The Aftermath
by TheLastHeroesDaughter
Summary: After the war against Gaea all of the heroes are trying to move forward with their lives. Some of them are falling apart for all to see, others seem to be doing well but the pain still exists. The events that follow create and break apart relationships and friendships, so the only question to ask is how will they all hold up in the faces of their new terrors. (Mainly PercyXNico)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: If Only He Knew

No one was more shocked than Percy was when Nico came out in front of the entire camp. It wasn't a disgusted shock, nor would he say that he was really flattered either though. Percy just went numb after the truth came out, and when Nico ran away it was Annabeth to pull the pieces together for him, the two of them sitting on the bunk in cabin three and the both of them pulling at their hair for being so blind.

"You can't blame yourself for every little aspect of the wars," Annabeth tried to sooth him but when she reached out to touch him all she could think of was the darkness that seemed to be clawing its way out of him. He reminded her of Luke, of what had happened in Tartarus, and worst of all what was about to happen between them.

Percy stared at her in their final moments and smiled the goofy lopsided smile she had grown so annoyed with in the best way. "I just can't believe this is all happening at once," he confided to her, "all the shit we just went through and I find out that the one person who has been covering my ass the entire time is done chasing me. What will I do without him?" taking Annabeth's hand he could feel the tears starting to swell. "What will I do without you?"

Annoyed she shoved his face out of her lap and glared at him, "You act like everyone is leaving you seaweed brain!" but it didn't cheer him up, his eyes were still far too distanced. "Just because we are over doesn't change anything. When did you actually feel like we were a couple anyways? Aside from the first time you kissed me maybe, we have always been friends. Destined to butt heads like siblings and cover each other's backs because regardless of how things end we love each other."

He thought about this for a moment and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling himself back into her lap and closing his eyes; "You're right, but I still don't know what to do with the rest of this mess…"

_Break_

Nico spent the next two hours hacking away at a dummy with his sword to levitate tension after what he just said. He was so _stupid_! If he was over Jackson why the hell did he just embarrass himself and Percy, not to mention Annabeth, in front of the entire camp?! Lunging at the dummy he stabbed his black stygian iron sword into its stomach, twisted and yanked to the side sending bit of hay flying everywhere.

"Remind me to never fight you after a love confession," Jason's voice filled the air around him and Nico dropped his sword as though it had been set on fire.

"What are you doing here?" Nico snapped at him, still not sure how to feel about the guy who broke Reyna's heart. "Come to try and brother up to me?"

Jason laughed at that and took the dummy away from Nico before he could go back to massacring it. "Not at all young one," he pated Nico on the top of the head as he passed and Nico shook the remaining hay out of his hair. "I simply want to know how your conscience is holding up."

"I am over eight years old!" Nico yelled at him and balled his fists up at his sides. "And what do you mean my conscience? I'm fine."

Not even noticing it Nico had stabbed his sword into the ground and was killing the grass around it, sinking the blade deeper into the soil and causing Jason to chuckle. "Are you sure about that? Because I don't recall that patch of dirt doing anything to you before. Why keep this all to yourself? I thought we were finally friends."

Huffing out a breath of air Nico yanked his sword from the ground and sheathed it on his back. "I still don't know what you are talking about Jason."

"There we go!" Jason jumped up and clapped Nico on the back, just to the side of his deadly sword, "the closed off and grumpy Nico is back! Much better than the murder everything in sight Nico!"

Groaning Nico shrugged Jason away and turned to a soft knock on one of the wooden posts that lined the fighting arena. Will stood with a nervousness to his stance and Nico laughed at him, ushering the boy into the area with Jason. "This is Will," Nico introduced him and Will stuck his hand out for Jason to shake. "He helped me admit to Percy what I was feeling."

"So, he knew before hand?" Jason asked skeptically letting go of Will's hand.

"Yes," Nico nodded and saw the hurt look on Jason's face. "Not before you though," he rolled his eyes and turned back to Will, "the kid has gay-dar. Then again it helps that he is forward never straight."

Will shuffled next to Nico and moved to punch him in the arm but Nico dodged, "First of all I told you to tell Percy how you feel, not then mask that with another lie you moron! Second thanks for dragging me out of the closet."

Shrugging Nico looked at Jason; "after what I did you really thing people are going to give a shit? Jason is bisexual, I'm gay, your gay, Percy is straight, what is the big deal?"

"The fact that you are in love with a straight guy? Or at least a guy you think is straight."

Jason nodded in agreement with Will and watched as Piper walked in behind Nico.

"I am not in love with Perseus Jackson!" He yelled at them while gripping his hair. Behind him someone grabbed his shoulder and pinned his arms to his sides.

"Oh yes you are," Piper taunted in his ear, "You can't hide something like that from a daughter of Aphrodite. Once you confessed I could see everything clearly, I was already starting to figure it out before then."

"Piper I will put a skeleton in your bed tonight if you don't let this go," Nico warned her but Piper just laughed in his ear and kissed him on the cheek.

"How did I not see how cute you were until all this?" she exclaimed as she let him go and Nico rubbed viciously at his cheek.

"He is a master of creepy vibes," Jason mused and hugged Piper quickly before the three of them turned back to Nico. "Underneath it all he is just the little brat all kids are."

Piper squealed and Nico had to cover his ears just to think. "How long have you liked him?" she asked and pulled Nico to the benches on the sides of the arena. "Was it love at first sight?"

Embarrassed Nico hid his face in Will's shoulder so Piper couldn't see him blush.

"A few years?" he heard Jason snort in the background and groaned, "Okay since I was ten alright! And I'm not answering the second one."

_Break_

The next night at dinner Percy looked around to find a table frustrated. Since the children of Rome and Camp Half-Blood had basically just become one blob of children with schizophrenic parents the seating had been forced out the window. Granted it still happened that most of the Ares/ Mars kids sat together and so on, but it still made Percy think of everything that happened in the war. His old table, thankfully empty, was home for him still and when he sat down the sound of waves calmed him.

Another tray hitting the table interrupted his soothing ocean sounds and Percy looked up into the dark eyes of Reyna, the Praetor.

He nodded as though he had to give her permission to sit which she simply rolled her eyes at and took the spot across from him anyways.

"Annabeth is helping rebuild New Rome," Reyna started before taking a bit of food off of her plate. When Percy didn't respond she swallowed and tried again. "We are leaving in a few days, are you coming with us?"

"Probably not," Percy tol her, his voice sounding deflated. "Annabeth wants to do all the architecture over there and that's great, but it isn't for me."

"Isn't Annabeth for you though?" she questioned him while they both picked at their food. Percy had lost weight the past few weeks and she took noticed as he moved the foo around on his plate, only taking an occasional bite here and there.

"Annabeth is Annabeth," Percy responded blankly, "if she wants me to go I will, but I have home here."

Reyna coughed and looked over at Annabeth who was laughing with her siblings at their old table, taking brief moments to gaze over at Percy with concern. "Is something going on between you two?" Reyna asked and shoveled food into her mouth hoping it would encourage Percy to eat.

Percy shook his head, "Nothing is going on," he looked over to Annabeth and smiled, "we've never been better," he chuckled and even Reyna could tell that there was more than he was letting on. There was no longing in either of their faces, at least not the longing that Reyna knew was there when she was with Jason.

Eyes widening she dropped her fork and looked back and forth between Percy and Annabeth; "You two broke up," she guessed and Percy smiled at her. A genuine smile that she didn't quite understand.

"We did," he told her and then looked back at Annabeth, waving her over to his table, "a bit ago. It just made sense, you have your best friend that's your lover and your best friend that's your sibling. Annabeth has always been more my sister."

As Annabeth sat down she smiled over to Reyna, quickly realizing that the Roman knew what had happened. "What's going on you two?" she asked cheerfully and messed with Percy's hair.

"Does anyone else know?" Reyna asked and was granted with two blank faces.


	2. Chapter 2: Too Bad I Can't Have You

p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Chapter 2: Too Bad I Can't Have You/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"News and rumors of Annabeth and Percy's breakup didn't start spreading until after Annabeth left, without Percy. That was really the biggest reason for them to start, Roman moral was to keep their cards in hand for play later. No one really wanted to confront Percy on the rumors without Annabeth there, and even Nico attributed the entire separation to Percy refusing to leave his mother after being gone from her for so long./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"It wasn't until Jason was Iris messaging with the Praetor while on assignment to recruit more volunteers to help rebuild the city that he found out it was true. He had called her at a bad time perhaps and saw her kissing Annabeth, so she was forced into explaining to him that Percy and Annabeth broke up a while ago. "You have to be kidding me," Jason stared at Reyna wide eyed and she re-braided her hair while Annabeth sat next to her blushing and attempting to stay out of the rainbow./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""No, you really think I am low enough to be kissing someone else's girlfriend?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Shaking his head frantically Jason tried not to trip over his words while in Reyna's presence. "I just- I never would have guessed. No one has thought it was seriously over!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Well it is," Annabeth spoke up from the sidelines and narrowed her eyes in Jason's direction regardless of whether or not he could see her, "but don't you dare go and bombard him with questions, I will tear your throat out from here if you do."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Jason moved to get a better angle of Annabeth and saw the most murderous face he had ever seen, including the casted face of medusa that was on his sister's shield. He jumped back from her just a bit and gave her a skeptical look; "so why are you so defensive about this?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"At that Annabeth softened up the slightest bit; "He is somewhat like the little brother that I never wanted but can't imagine living without," she told him, "I always have to figure out ways to get him out of the messes he creates but when it really does come down to it he can do great things. We always have each other's back but there is nothing more for us to learn, no new side for us to explore and anything closer than what we are feels like we have crossed a line." Instinctively she leaned into Reyna, "We both need people who can balance us better."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Reyna wrapped her arm around Annabeth and smiled, "I think this is going to be the new Praetor, what do you think? The Praetors usually are together."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""What about Percy though? How has he been handling everything?" Jason looked directly at Annabeth and her shoulders drooped. His face dropped as well and the Iris message started to fade out as the two of them waved./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Try to get him to join us in New Rome!" Annabeth called out to him just before their connection was lost and Jason was left alone on the top of Half-Blood Hill./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"emBreak/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"em /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"After all the convincing of Jason, Will, Piper, and even Lou the daughter of Hecate, Nico finally threw in the towel and agreed to go to New Rome. He was somewhat upset because Jason had made him promise to stay at Camp Half-Blood and stop traveling after the war, but now that Jason was spending most of his time going back and forth he wanted Nico to go back to New Rome to focus on his education./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"There was more than just that, they needed volunteers to help rebuild the city as well but what better way to get a bunch of people into the city than to offer safe schooling? Most of the younger demigods were going, and Nico liked the idea of being close to Hazel again so he had finally agreed. Beside it may be just was he needs to get over Percy Jackson. So for his last day he had a few things he wanted to do, one of which was actually talk with Jason before they had to go to New Rome with a bunch of teenagers./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"When he found Jason he was greeted with a lost looking blonde haired jock who didn't seem to know the sky from the sea, and that could be a problem for a child of Zeus./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Nico stepped closer to Jason and waved his hand in front of him, "Hello, superman? You in there or do I need to get Piper?" The sound of Nico's voice seemed to wake Jason up and he grabbed Nico by the shoulders, looking him dead in the eyes./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Percy and Annabeth broke up."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Everything seemed to stop at that moment for Nico when he heard what Jason said. It was as though he wasn't awake, it wasn't a dream come true because it didn't make Percy his but it gave him opportunity. And then it all shattered when he realized he had these chances before and blown them every time… But Percy must have still been hurting from the breakup, and how would it look if he just quit talking to Percy altogether? Certainly not like he had gotten over him./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Pushing Jason off of him Nico ran a hand through his hair to think, "Have you seen him recently?" he asked casually, trying not look as nervous as he felt./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""No," Jason caught the blush on Nico's cheeks and smiled, "I heard he was holed up in his cabin lately."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Probably doesn't want to be bothered," Nico told him and turned to leave back to the big house but Jason stopped him./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Actually," turning Nico around Jason pointed to the cabin, "I need you to go in there and tell him we need more people for the reconstruction of New Rome," before Nico could protest Jason barreled on, "you're the only one here that can get in there and have a chance of talking to him," Jason was pleading and Nico rolled his eyes./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""I swear Jason," he warned, "if this is some kind of trap—/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""It's not-," he held up his right hand, "I swear it's not a trap."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""If it is, I will drag you into the underworld and you will never leave," the shadows around Nico began to grow and Jason stepped back from him a good two feet./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"As Nico walked down the hill and toward the cabin areas he could hear Jason mutter something about how Nico did still like Jackson and he flipped him off as he continued away from Thalia's tree./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"emBreak/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"em /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Not even the sounds of the ocean was calming Percy down at this point. He had been unable to sleep, eat, or function with the other campers for more than a few hours in a week. Annabeth had only helped for so long, the pain of Tartarus and both the wars was too heavy a weight to carry and Percy would gladly trade his memories to Atlas and hold the sky once more. The few times he went out was to eat, teach sword fighting to the younger campers, and canoe races. Even capture the flag was rare, he only went once because Nico had asked him to team up with the Hades cabin and for some reason it didn't matter who else was on their team if Nico was talking to him again./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"That was another problem he was having. Since the confession Nico had gone to speaking only in passing to him. It was nothing like friendship, not even like what they had before, it was far worse. Percy had thought that he would have had a chance to build a friendship with Nico now that he had gotten that off of his chest, but now there was nothing there. He spent his time exploring camp with Jason and Piper, Lou and he seemed to have grown close, and everyone was positive he was dating Will. And him dating Will had made Percy withdraw even more though he wasn't sure why, he had no right to be jealous or even spiteful but he was. It was as though he felt Nico hadn't given him enough chances but in truth he had just been too blind to see them./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"And when he did go out of his cabin he felt like a stalker, his eyes always wandering over to The Ghost King, always wondering what he was doing and who he was with. It was odd. He had never been this possessive of Annabeth, or as protective. When he had been teaching swordfight he nearly took off a campers arm for coming a bit too close to getting Nico with his sword./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"So instead he stayed in his cabin, sprawled out on his bunk with Batman comics scattered all over him and his mattress. He was currently enjoying one when someone pulled it out of his hands./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""So you like Batman?" Nico di Angelo was standing in his cabin wearing a new bomber, this one made of black leather, and his signature black skinny jeans. His hair was cut shorter on the sides now and the top fell at odd angles but Percy thought it looked cute… actually no, he hated the fact that it made him look at Nico for an extra few seconds./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Nico raised an eyebrow at Percy when he didn't say anything in response and handed him back the comic, "you have a lot of them. In the Lotus Hotel they had all the new issues that came out. I read every comic written it seems like."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Finally finding his voice Percy sat up on his bed more and straightened his shirt, "What are you doing here?" he asked as he slid the comics into a drawer on his bedside table./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Sighing Nico eyed the bed as Percy patted a spot for him to sit down. "I heard that you and Annabeth broke up," Nico told him honestly and hoped for the gods sake that Jason hadn't lied to him./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"To his surprise Percy laughed. Actually laughed an old laugh that reminded Nico of a time before the wars and when Percy first rescued him. When Percy was his knight in shining armor but also his best comedian when he was down and the best to go to with all the big questions about the new and unknown world. It was nice to hear that laugh that could transport a person back in time./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""That is why you broke into my cabin?" he asked, his words broken by laughter./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Nico looked at him slightly dumbfounded, "Well… there really was no breaking in… just sort of poof I'm here…" he cocked his head at Percy, "did you and Annabeth break up or are you laughing at me because I'm being retarded?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Percy kept laughing and fell on his side, mostly because he was exhausted since he hadn't slept in three days and before that he had only slept for maybe four hours, but partially because he was overjoyed to hear the sound of Nico's voice again. "The Ghost King goes poof! That is great!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""You're starting to really scare me," Nico stood up and moved over to Percy, touching his hand to Percy's forehead and furrowing his brow when he noticed just how warm Percy was. "Are you sick?" Percy shook his head. "When was the last time you slept?" Nico asked as he examined the room that was littered with energy drink cans and coffee cups./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"After thinking for a moment and calming down the laughter Percy counted on his hands; "three days, give or take a week."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""A week?! Really Percy? What the hell?! Are you trying to kill yourself?" Nico quickly pulled back the covers of Percy's bunk and stuffed him in. "You need sleep."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""NO!" Percy practically screamed and Nico jumped at the sound of a panicked son of Poseidon. Nico had never heard Percy sound so… Scared. Not even when he willing let himself fall into Tartarus for Annabeth. "If I sleep I remember, if I remember I have to know and live with all of it!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Slowly Nico sat beside Percy and looked deep into his sea green eyes. "What is going on Percy? Is this about the break up?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""No," Percy shook his head and looked back up at Nico, "I just- I can't dream about what I've done."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""We have all done horrible things Jackson," Nico told him but Percy's eyes seemed to fill with tears at his words./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Blinking the tears out of his eyes Percy looked at Nico and tried to figure out how to tell him; "You haven't. You are good," he started and he knew that Nico was going to retort when Nico scoffed so he just kept talking, "don't give me any of that Hades bullshit. You kept in touch with Bob, which saved my life. You kept me from dying in the first war. You let your sister go and she is the only reason we all lived. There is so much more, but you have done everything good Nico where I have fallen short. I only look the hero because I am the son of Poseidon."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Nico didn't know what to say so he just smiled and chuckled at Percy before pushing the moron back down onto his pillow. "Thank you for all the feverish compliments," he hoped that he wasn't blushing when he spoke, "now I am going to go get you a cool rag for your forehead."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"When he came back Percy was pouting in his cocoon of blankets and Nico wished that he had a camera to capture the moment. He placed the washcloth over Percy's face and smiled before crossing his arms over his chest, "before I go I have some business to take care of," he inhaled a deep breath and looked down at the exhausted Jackson, "Jason is here to get as many people as he can to New Rome for the reconstruction. I'm going with a lot of others to join the rest of the seven and he wants you there, so does Annabeth from the sounds of it."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Percy nearly hit his head when he jumped up, "You mean you're-," he stopped short when he saw Nico's expression and remembered that Nico was dating Will, at least Percy had seen Nico burying his head in Will's shoulder and chest quite a bit, and Nico was over him anyways… He relaxed and bit and Nico did as well; "you're going to meet up with the seven?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Nodding stiffly Nico tried to remind himself that he was trying to get over Percy Jackson and if he let every little joyous expression pull him back in he was never going to escape the vortex./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Well you can't very well join the seven if I'm not there."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Nico felt his stomach flutter against his wishes when Percy said that and collapsed back against his mattress with a content sigh./p 


	3. Open Up To Me

p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Chapter 3: Open Up to Me/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"After updating Jason about Percy both Nico and him had decided that even though Percy wanted to go he couldn't leave with them that night. The Romans' were sending aid to transport all of the younger demigods safely, and children of Hecate were working to cloak a bus in the same spell that the camps were under. Lou Ellen waved at Nico while he spoke to Jason Under the shade of the balcony of the Big House. Chiron was off teaching Archery and Mr. D was busying himself with a drink now that he was allowed one day a month so Jason was in charge of making sure everything continued to run smoothly while Percy slept./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""I can't just tell all of the others that we are staying behind because the Son of Poseidon needs a nap," Jason explained and rubbed at his temples as they tried to figure out what to do./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""It is more than a nap Jason!" Nico spoke through clenched teeth as he tried to not grab Jason by the throat and strangle him. "He hasn't slept in probably a week! If he goes like he is now who knows what is going to happen, remember what you did to Piper the last time you were in a similar situation?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Jason clenched up at the memory, the image of Piper laying on the floor seizing was permanently etched onto the back of his eyelids. He had been working himself to the edge for both camps and ended up losing control of his powers forcing his girlfriend into a seizure. It was the day he found out that he could overload the human electro brain waves and it was still hard to hold Piper without crying. "You know that I don't mean it the way it came out," Jason sighed in frustration./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Raising his hands up Nico looked Jason in the eyes, "He needs the rest right now, but you can't delay taking the others to New Rome or Reyna will go into overdrive and run the kids we have over there into the ground." They shared a knowing look and smiled, "She has her heart in the right place but we both know how she can get."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Yes," Jason chuckled, "there was this one time that she-," he stopped mid-sentence and Nico watched his eyes glaze over. "Never mind, what do you plan to do with seaweed brain then?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Nico rolled his eyes and leaned his head into his hand to think, running his fingers through his hair he looked back at Jason, "You head over there and I will bring him back when he is all rested. Sound good? Reyna can do without me for one more day if she has all of them," he pointed over to the group working on the bus and Jason nodded./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Okay it sounds doable," looking at Nico Jason felt his heart ache a bit as he flashed back to the dark and depressed little boy he had seen confessing to Eros. "Is it okay with you though?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Of course, it won't be the first time I have shadow traveled more than one person. And this time I won't have a giant statue to drag me down." Changing the subject Nico leaned against the railing of the porch and took off his sword to inspect it, a habit he had gotten into when he wanted to be left alone. Generally speaking most people who even wanted to speak to him wouldn't push it if he was holding his sword./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Taking a deep breath Jason placed a hand on Nico's, coming close to the stygian iron that would no doubt send his soul to Tartarus, and gripped for the other boy's hand. "You know I meant it much differently Nico. I can tell that you aren't over him, do you think you can be close to him for that long?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""I've grown up Jason," Nico ripped his hand from Jason's grip and swung the sword over his shoulder to re-sheath it on his back. "Give me a chance to prove that."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"And as Nico walked away Jason had to admit that Nico was right. He was taller than Jason now, even if he was still skinny he had built up lean muscles and his pale olive toned skin was marred with fewer shadows than it used to be. On top of that Nico seemed to be a bit older than he really was which they all attributed to his time spent in Tartarus. His hair had grown out but he kept it maintained and had the top a tad longer than the rest, it highlighted his features well and made him look older. The bags under his eyes had managed to go away, and even if he did still wear a lot of black he spent time with the other campers and was happier./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Tartarus was something he never spoke about though. He had said something about it to Hazel once, but hadn't gone into detail. There was so much of him that had changed, but something underneath it all was still hurting and Jason didn't want to see Percy Jackson give him more reason to go back to hiding away./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"As he observed Nico walking towards the infirmary, probably to talk to Will, Jason decided that he had better have a talk with Percy before they left as well. Even if the little bastard wasn't going to let him into his cabin Jason would find a way to talk to him./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Stolls!" he called out to the bus project and the two Hermes brothers came out from behind the drivers' side covered in grease and wearing huge matching grins. They ran over to him and saluted, causing Jason to roll his eyes. "Travis, Connor," he addressed them and they took a step back, "I am going to…" biting his lip Jason knew he was going to regret this, "put the two of you in charge," he forced the words through his teeth and grimaced./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Really?" Travis tapped his fingers together and Jason could already see the evil gleam in his eye, "Like in charge of all these magic users? Us?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""You're the eldest ones here," Jason groaned and Connor high fived his brother. While the two of them fist pumped the air Jason covered half his face with his hand, hoping that when this blew up in his face he could find something to pull himself back up with. "I have to go talk to Percy, if you two destroy anything I will strike you with enough lightning to knock you out the entire trip."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Oh," Conner cooed and grabbed his brother by the hips, "Scary emand handsome/em. But why are you going to go talk to Percy? The three of us could have just as much fun," winking Conner hooked his fingers into Travis's belt loops and pulled him closer./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Trying not to blush Jason pushed them aside, "You two need to find yourselves girlfriends or boyfriends or something," he grumbled and stomped off towards the cabins while the Stoll brothers laughed at him from behind. On his way by he pulled Lou Ellen aside./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Make sure those two don't destroy camp," he told her seriously./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Lou nodded, her hair that she had pulled back for work was bouncing behind her like a fluffy black tail with all the layers she had put in it. "Are you okay?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Yes," he nodded, "but I'm serious. I am giving you permission to use any means necessary to keep those two in line."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Any means?" her eyes were wide and sparkling./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Any means."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"emBreak/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"em /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""I can't stand Jason!" Nico yelled as he slammed the door to the infirmary and stomped over to the medicine cabinet. Shuffling through the bottles he tried to find anything for sleep aid while only half paying attention to Will in the background apologizing to a patient and excusing himself./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"The foot tapping was a bit harder to tune out./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""What's going on di Angelo?" Will's voice was stern and he sighed as Nico continued to rummage through his cabinets. "I will help you find what you are looking for if you just talk to me."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""I can't find any dumb sleep meds!" Nico slammed the door shut and turned to face Will, both their eyes set on each other and both of them just as stubborn. "I need some sleep meds for Percy he hasn't slept in a week maybe more."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Will gave Nico a confused look and crossed his arms over his chest. He was wearing a lab coat, which was rare, and underneath he had on a faded pair of blue jeans with a Dr. Who Tardis tee-shirt. "And how does this all relate to you hating Grace? We will get back on the subject of Percy in a minute but you came in hear shouting that you 'can't stand' Jason."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""I am taking Percy to New Rome, but I have to make him rest first so we are leaving late." Nico started./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""I still don't see how this is about—/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""I was getting there," Nico groaned and leaned against the door jam. "I am shadow traveling him to New Rome. Jason doesn't think I can handle it. He acts like I am still the child he saw crushed by Cupid." Flinging his hands up Nico looked at Will for support./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"He didn't get it./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Well," Will started, "can you handle it?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Really?!" curling his hands into fists at his sides Nico glared at Will, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""It means that I am worried about you. You have been in love with Percy for years, you think your closest friends don't know that you still think about him? Are you going to be able to be around him, alone, for that long?" Will glared straight back at Nico, both of them refusing to back down to the other./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""I am not a child Will," Nico's voice had gone dark and the shadows around him began to curl toward his body./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Will knew that the sun was starting to blind the patients but he really didn't care as he leveled his gaze with Nico, "Really? Because you sure are acting like one." Before Nico could respond Will moved into his personal space, gripping his wrist and pinning it to the wall. "You need to realize that just saying you're over someone doesn't make it true Nico. Percy Jackson is not just going to disappear and you are going to have to deal with that, whether you actually talk it out with him like I told you to do in the first place or work through it your own way is up to you but you have to make a choice."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""I did make a choice!" Nico shouted into Will's face and the ground shook, shadows and light swirling together in a never ending battle. "I chose to move on! Now let me do that."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Letting go of Nico's wrist Will pulled him into a hug, the light and dark in the room dividing perfectly down between them as he held Nico, trying to push the pieces back together. "I want you to open up, Nico…" he whispered into Nico's hair and the light and shadows pulled away, leaving the room feeling cold and damp./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""There is nothing to talk about," Nico reached up under Will's arms to grip at the back of his shoulders. "I am fine."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"A chuckle rumbled through Will's chest when he responded./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""None of us are."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"emBreak/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"em /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Percy was curled around his personal toilet, a gift from Clarisse after the wars as a laugh, in his bathroom when he heard banging on his door. He groaned and dry heaved into the basin again, nothing left in his stomach to throw up. The memories of drinking from Phlegethon had plagued the small bit of sleep he had gotten and he woke up just to rid himself of his lunch. Now there was an annoying banging that persisted and refused to go away even when he shouted at it./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""I am not leaving until you open this damn door Jackson!" Jason's voice made Percy's head pound and he clutched the toilet as though it was his life line./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"After another round of heaving he leaned out of his bathroom and shouted as best he could at the Roman, "Can't really answer at the moment," he clutched his throat, horrified by how hoarse and gruff it sounded, "in the bathroom."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Damn it Jackson," Jason gripped the knob of the cabin and tried to force it open, "is that really the best excuse you can come up with? If you don't unlock this door now I will," he yanked at the knob again and thought, "I will fry the entire lock off!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Just as Percy was about to tell him to feel free his stomach found a small bit of acid it hadn't rid itself of yet and he was back at the thrown as he heard a loud crack and the smell of smoke filled his room./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Percy!" Jason dropped the smoldering pieced of crumpled metal that was left of the door knob on the floor and looked around the seemingly abandoned cabin. He caught sight of the energy drink cans and realized the Nico hadn't been exaggerating when he said a week. Kicking one out of the way he called again. "Percy I know that you're in here! I heard—/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"The sound of horrid human retching filled the room and Jason darted to the bathroom. He found Percy curled up on the floor, his eyes red and his hair plastered to his head with sweat and he was shivering. Jason went into autopilot as he scooped Percy into his arms and carried him to his bed where he set him down and instantly started to wipe the sweat from his forehead and take his temperature./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""I should get someone from the Apollo cabin over here," he moved to get up but Percy gripped his forearm and held him in place./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"The look in Percy's eyes was one that Jason had never seen. It was broken and prideful yet begging and pained. Jason wined and turned in a circle trying to figure out what to do. "You need help Percy!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"It took Percy a moment but he did finally nod. "I know Jason… I just, I couldn't take it okay. Let me get better on my own though, the camp can't afford to see me in that light. Not right now when we are doing so well rebuilding, we need to focus on healing the camps first."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""If you want to do that then you have to be around for it Percy!" Jason pulled at his hair and looked down at the Son of Poseidon. "You have to be better in order to help us."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""And I will get there—/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""I can tell Annabeth and she can come help—/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""No!" Percy sat up and his eyes were dark, a sea in rage with storm. He looked sick, bags under his eyes and his skin had lost its healthy tan but he looked dangerous. "I have been a big enough burden on her as it is. She needs a chance to be happy and I can't interfere with that."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Jason stopped moving for a moment and looked at Percy again. Deep in his eyes Jason could tell that Percy knew Annabeth had moved on. "You- you know that she is with Reyna?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Of course I know!" Percy would have hit Jason upside the head if he had the energy, "you act as though I don't talk to her every day!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Well I- I just thought that," fidgeting with his hands Jason tried to not look guilty, "with the break up and that…"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Why is it that everyone assumes after the breakup Annabeth and I can't be friends?" Percy's expression was priceless and Jason started to laugh. "I mean really? She was my friend before, we never got all that serious, and she is my friend now. After everything we have done together you can't expect us to just hate each other."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Fair enough," Jason wiped a tear from his eye and smiled at Percy. "So if you are both doing so well then what happened?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Percy felt uncomfortable as Jason's piercing blue eyes bore into him and he flung his blanket over himself to try and hide. "We weren't meant for each other. I couldn't keep up with her interests, she couldn't try feeling again. I'm not saying that she won't ever, but she closed herself after everything happened. She tried to put reason to it when you just can't, there is not logical reason why all of the things that happened during the war happened, but she had to find one. I don't know if she did but instead of talking it out all we could do was try and tie the broken bits back together," Percy sighed and Jason was surprised at how well he was able to talk about this. "She can keep me from falling apart, but there is no working through the things I did…"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"A new look overtook Percy's eyes and Jason knew it all too well. It was the same look that scarred his face when he thought of Piper now… "What happened down there Percy?" he asked softly but Percy just shook his head./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""There are some things you just don't talk about Jason…"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Jason took a deep breath and sat down beside Percy on the bed. "Well I think it will be good for you to have your friends back again," Jason told him, "so Nico is taking you to New Rome once you have fully rested. No more fucking energy drinks by the way," he picked up an empty can and waved it in Percy's face, "this shit will kill you. Do you really want to be known as Perseus Jackson, Son of Poseidon Hero of Olympus who put a stop to Kronos and defeated Gaea only to die at age twenty five of energy drink overdose?" Percy rolled his eyes at that and Jason crumpled the can up in his hand and threw it at the wall, "If you need to talk come to me, go to anyone you can but you need to find someone."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""I know," Percy nodded and tried to get Nico's image out of his head./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""And if you're thinking about Nico," Jason warned getting a shocked expression from Percy that he wasn't sure how to process, "I swear to the gods Jackson I will blast with so much lightning that it will rewrite history and even your mother won't remember you if you hurt Nico."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Gulping Percy looked at Jason with a challenging glare, but underneath that he understood. "Jason, I don't want to hurt Nico. You have to know that."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""I do but you don't have a very good track record in that area," Jason sighed at the sad look that covered Percy's face. "Look, Nico is getting better and I don't want to ruin that. Just don't hurt him okay?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""He is over me anyways, remember?" Percy chuckled but there wasn't as much joy behind it as usual when he nudged Jason in the shoulder./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Jason raised an eyebrow at him but smiled, "Yeah, sure," he stood up and adjusted his shirt, "he is totally over you."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Before leaving Jason looked back at Percy, his blue eyes twinkling, "Just remember Percy; I don't want you to hurt him but I want both of you happy. I care about my friends. Now I better go because I left the Stoll's in charge." And with that he left the Poseidon Cabin./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""You did what?!" Percy yelled after him./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"emBreak/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"em /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Nico was holding a bottle of sleeping pills that would put any brand name to shame as he left the infirmary. Will had given him the bottle and told him that Percy couldn't take more than one or he might not wake up, but they would do the job. The children of Hypnos's cabin had been working on them for some of the war survivors, they didn't take away dreams entirely but allowed you to dream of what you wanted instead of what you had lost. At first the pills had backfired, since many of the survivors wanted to bring the dead back, but in the end one of the children in the Hypnos cabin managed to line it with something that made every dream light./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"He was listening to the bottle of pills shake in his jacket pocket while he walked over to the cabins when he saw Jason running towards him from the pavilion carrying a basket of fruits./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Hey," Jason handed him the fruit, "sorry about earlier… But take these to Percy okay?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Oh gods if this is another type of joke Grace," Nico looked at the fruit and could only imagine Jason trying to set him and Percy up, "he just got through a break up I don't think he wants me to take him on a picnic."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Jason shook his head and looked around frantically, "No I just, Percy isn't feeling well so you might want him eating in his cabin. Anyways I really have to go. See you later!" Before Nico could object Jason was running away towards the Big House waving at Nico as he went./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"The basket of fruit certainly didn't look like it was anything but for making sure Percy ate something so Nico just shrugged and walked into the shadow of the nearest tree to travel into Percy's cabin. What he was faced with the sight of Percy curled up under the covers shaking as he tried to drink from a glass of water./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Percy," Nico rushed over to him but him talking had caused Percy to jump and the glass fell from his hand. Thankfully being a son of Poseidon Percy was able to keep the water up, the glass however fell to the ground and Nico barely had time to catch it before it shattered. "What the hell? I thought you were doing better before I left." He held the glass out and Percy let the water he was holding onto fall back into the canister while Nico placed the basket of fruits on Percy's side table./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""I'm sorry," Percy mumbled and took the glass from Nico. "I was just about to leave when you barged in. Just because you poofed in here once doesn't mean you can do it whenever you want you know."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Please don't say I poof everywhere," Nico groaned, "I'm not a fairy."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Percy smirked as he threw back the blanket, happy to have Nico talking to him again, and let his feet touch the floor. "Too late, you started it," he stood up to stretch and instantly felt dizzy, the room tilted and if it weren't for something supporting him he would have collapsed./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Nico didn't have time to think as Percy started to faint he jumped to his feet and wrapped his arms around the other boy to hold him steady and Percy just gave a contented sigh as he relaxed against Nico's chest. A blush started to force Nico to feel overheated and he pulled Percy back towards the bed to lay him down./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Of course it would be Nico to catch him. All this time Nico had been there to catch him. Percy relished in the feeling of Nico's thin yet strong arms wrapping around him and pulling him towards a warm chest. All Percy wanted to do was curl up against Nico and fall asleep, but reality came back and he remembered what Jason had said./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Are you feeling okay Percy?" Nico asked him, his black eyes wide with panic after having to catch Percy mid fall to the hard floor./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""I'm fine, I'm fine," Percy told him and with every ounce of everything in him he pushed Nico's hand away just as his stomach growled. Nico looked at him and then at the basket of fruit and reached out to grab a pomegranate, holding it out to Percy all Percy could think to do was laugh or throw up again and neither of those sounded like a good option. "Umm…" he grabbed his stomach and looked at the pomegranate again, "Sorry but uh… I feel odd that you chose emthat/em."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Oh gods Percy," Nico contorted his face and Percy hated to admit that he still found it adorable, "you really think I'm that bad?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""No, no, it's just the whole story bullshit."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Well you would end up imprisoned in your own room and you have done that to yourself recently so I don't think there is much of a risk here," Nico placed the fruit in Percy's hands and turned away but Percy just tried to stand again. He got dizzy and collapsed back on the bed but Nico still wanted to slap him for it./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Lifting his head up Percy glared into his lap, "I have to get out there—/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Eat the fruit first," Nico commanded and Percy snapped his head up to Nico who was looming over him. His hands were tightened into fists and he was glaring at Percy so intensely that all Percy could do was break the pomegranate open on the edge of the table and start eating the seeds./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Surprisingly the calmed his stomach. The angry burn that had been there from his nightmares started to dissipate and he could feel small bits of energy returning to him. When he had emptied about half of the fruit he set it aside and stood up. Vertigo didn't try to claim him this time so he stretched and smiled at Nico./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;""Feel better?" Nico asked, watching as Percy started to move and find his slippers. "Hey! What are you doing now?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"Stopping as he tried to get his giant foot into his slipper Percy looked at Nico and his chest hurt with how badly he wanted to talk to Nico. But something worse was happening. He locked eyes with the Ghost King and grabbed his pen from his nightstand; "Jason thought it was a brilliant idea to leave the Stoll's in charge." At that even Nico's face fell and they both headed for the door./p 


	4. Apologies and Realizations

Chapter 4: Apologies and Realizations 

Lou Ellen chuckled darkly as she splayed her fingers out in front of her, watching as the small pill sized capsule she kept in her pocket exploded over the Stoll brothers and she played the part of the witch controlling her potion as it stuck them to a tree.

"What the hell Lou?!" Connor yelled at her as he and his brother struggled to get free from the sticky mess that the daughter of Hecate had covered them in.

Travis tried leaning forward from the trunk of the tree only to have his back snap back to the bark from the gelatinous concoction that held him there. "Yeah, I thought you were one of the fun ones!" he complained as his back flared with pain.

"Sorry boys," Lou Ellen laughed, "I think I find this a bit more entertaining. Katie, this won't last forever so get these two troublemakers tied down."

Katie had a small smile on her lips as she watched the two boys she had grown up with get wrangled together and held hostage by a blob of bubblegum controlled by a girl more than three years younger than them. After laughing at their last attempts she sprouted vines from the ground and wound them around the tree to keep the two of them pinned together.

And that was what Jason saw as he came running towards them.

First he saw the Stolls, stuck to a tree with vines and what looked like bright green tree sap; then he saw Lou Ellen and Katie laughing together about ten feet away with the other's that had been working on the bus. After realizing that the Stolls were not an immediate threat to the camp he slowed down and caught his breath.

"Grace!" the brothers shouted when they caught sight of him. "We may have lost control of the campers."

One of the boys from Hephaestus cabin came forward and nodded at Jason, "They wanted to try altering the spell so the bus looked like a parade float with giant…" a blush dusted the dark skin of the boy's cheeks and the Stolls laughed. "Well with a giant penis as the focal point."

Even Jason laughed at the way the Jake's skin reddened with his words. He held his side as he looked at the boy covered in grease and muck. "Well thankfully I told Lou Ellen that she could use any means necessary to keep them under control. Though she may have been a little excessive." His gaze fell over the two glaring boys of Hermes.

"Well I didn't want my spell tampered with," Lou Ellen crossed her arms over her chest and glared back at the Stolls. "I don't even know how they got the idea in their evil little heads."

The Stolls looked back and forth between Lou Ellen and Jason, "How could you tell her she was allowed to do something like this?"

Just as they asked both Percy and Nico burst from the nearest shadow with their weapons in hand and eyes wide with expectance of the worst. Percy was in a loose dark blue tee-shirt that Jason knew had seen better days even if it hadn't seen the sun in a while and a pair of Finding Nemo pajama bottoms as he wielded Riptide through the air.

"What did they do?" Nico had his sword in his hand and had his back to Percy as the two of them spun around to assess the damage.

Once they noticed that nothing was on fire or destroyed Jason could see them relax and take in the others. Percy's eyes were wide as everyone looked at him, he hadn't left his cabin aside from teaching in two weeks so once everyone saw him his body went into panic mode and he slunk behind Nico subconsciously. "I thought you said that you left the Stolls in charge," he spoke over Nico's shoulder and locked his eyes with Jason's.

"I did," Jason chuckled at the change of roles between his two friends.

"Then why is nothing destroyed?" Nico re-sheathed his sword and noticed that the brothers in question were tied up around a tree with Lou standing away from them looking rather smug. "Never mind I think I can pinpoint the mastermind that did that."

Taking a deep bow Lou smiled at Nico, "Why thank you your majesty," she cooed and tried to not laugh as she looked back at the brothers.

"Thank you for the confidence!" Travis grumbled at the group of them that had gathered. "And you Katie, really?"

Katie blushed as the brothers looked at her. "I just want to get to New Rome boys," she sighed and walked away as though she had done something wrong.

Sighing Nico turned to look at Percy, just in time as the son of Poseidon gripped his arm and Nico was suddenly supporting his weight as he tried his best not to pass out. "Percy!"

Jason watched as Nico wrapped Percy in his arms and knelt to the ground, guiding Percy with him and taking the sword from the other boy's hand. Percy's body shuddered and he retched onto the grass. His face was a mask as he looked at the other campers. Taking in the situation though Nico pulled shadows around the two of them and they were gone.

"Is- is Percy going to be okay?" Travis stared at the spot where Percy and Nico had just been but they didn't come back.

Nodding his head Jason smiled, "I think Percy is going to be just fine."

_Break_

Percy was terrified as he saw the others watch him fall, even more ashamed as he lost the small amount of food left in his system on the grass besides Nico. Thankfully Nico had taken them back to his cabin and had him splashing cold water on his face from the fountain while Nico got him a glass of water and the other half of the pomegranate.

"I'm sorry for throwing up right next to you," Percy groaned as Nico placed the glass of water next to him on the edge of the fountain. "I know it wasn't cool…"

The next thing he knew though Nico slapped him across the face. His skin was still stinging as he heard the rustle of Nico's clothes beside him and he turned to meet a pair of large black eyes. Nico had sat down next to him and was holding the half a pomegranate in his hand, his hair fell into his face and he was somewhere between glaring and pitying Percy.

"What the fuck are you talking about Jackson? Not cool? You need to eat something and sleep," placing the piece of fruit by the glass of water Nico sighed, "Don't you think I just might have an idea of what is going on?"

Nico watched horrified with his own resolve as Percy bat his long ebony eyelashes, the brightness of his green eyes set off by the black of his hair. "I… I don't get what you're talking about…" Percy admitted and slumped forward.

"You're suffering?" rolling his eyes Nico pointed to the pomegranate; "After Tartarus all I ate was pomegranate seeds for weeks," he watched Percy shrink into himself and smiled, "Not your fault it took that long. But the bottom line was, not only was that all I had, but that was probably all I could have stomached. The damage on the body is pretty bad," Percy listened intently and remembered how the seeds of the pomegranate had helped soothe his stomach. "I'm surprised Annabeth didn't tell you all of this honestly."

Shaking his head Percy looked at the floor, "We never talked about… What happened. She spent a week getting better and when she was around it was a topic that didn't get brought up. I never told her what was happening…"

Resting a hand on Percy's shoulder Nico looked deep into his sea green eyes and could feel the strain on his heart that he had been running from. "Percy, we all figure out ways to cope with what happened… Even those of us who didn't fall into that hell like Jason, there was and is a lot that we all have had to straighten out. Jason lost all his confidence after the war, he lost his legion and his past to follow Piper. Hazel lost all of her innocence and the ability to look for the bright future she had always wanted. Even Leo can't crack jokes at the speed he used to. But moving on is what we have to do to stay sane in this mixed up world, and we need to find you a way to cope."

"I am too broken to piece back together Nico," he said softly and lifted to glass of water to his lips.

"No you're not," Nico's voice was stern and he leaned in closer to Percy, "I will save you Percy."

Percy wasn't sure what came over him but he leaned against Nico, letting the younger demigod's lips press into his forehead. If he hadn't had just gotten sick he probably wouldn't have been able to keep himself from kissing Nico right then. "You're always saving me."

_Break_

There was an odd feeling in Nico's stomach when he left the Poseidon cabin. He had given Percy one of the sleeping pills he had gotten from Will and forced him to eat the other half of the pomegranate before laying down. Nico remembered the feeling of Percy's skin against his own, how his lips had pressed onto Percy's forehead and how pleading and loving Percy's eyes had looked when Nico said goodbye.

Bottom line was he had to get out of there or he was going to say something that gave him away. He didn't realize how much worse it was with Percy being available and needing his help. The last thing he wanted to do was put more pressure or make things awkward around Percy when he was needed most. So after leaving cabin three he headed towards cabin one to see if he could catch Jason before he left for New Rome.

When he walked up to the door it was wide open and he could see Jason stuffing clothes into a bag. He knocked on the doorframe and smiled sheepishly when the Roman turned to him and waved him in.

The Zeus cabin was probably the most uncomfortable cabin to in. It was large and barren, nothing like the welcoming cabin Percy was in or the comforting darkness that his own provided. Jason had tried to make it better by posting up photos of him with Piper and the rest of his friends, but it was as though Zeus's statue was just waiting to strike them all off the walls.

"Hey," Nico clasped his hands behind his back and walked over to where Jason was packing his things. "I think Percy will be okay to leave the end of tomorrow, being around his friends will help him…"

Zipping up his bag Jason swung it over his shoulder and looked at Nico; "Let him know that my offer is still open. He will know what I mean by that."

Glancing at the blonde suspiciously Nico asked, "Have you told him what happened to you?"

"No," Jason shook his head, "I- I couldn't do it when it would have been helpful… He doesn't need to hear about what I did, or if he does it will be when he asks."

"He did something down there," looking at his feet Nico tried not to think about the sad look that had filled Percy's eyes, half terrified of what he had done. "I just don't know if I can help him if he won't tell me…"

A soft smile played on Jason's lips, "I get the feeling he will," when Nico looked up to him he coughed, "I mean I think he will open up to you. Both of you went through Tartarus so you have something in common to bond over…" If anything was going to happen between Nico and Percy it had to be because one of them got up the nerve to talk to the other.

"He and Annabeth went through that hell together," Nico sighed, "I should have her talk to him. They know exactly what the other is going through, or at least more so than I could."

"No," Jason warned Nico before the boy got any ideas, "Annabeth and Percy handled their experiences drastically different. She showed her true Athena side and reasoned everything with any logic she could, her emotions were put on the backburner while she fixed herself like a design that needed to be upgraded. There was no way for them to see eye to eye on what happened down there…"

That made sense to Nico in some ways. "Maybe Percy did something to Annabeth… That would explain why her trying to reason it would make him feel even worse. He started to cope by just not going to sleep and she coped by delving into the logic…"

"And how did you cope?" Jason asked but Nico's cold glare made him instantly regret it. While they all may understand that the three heroes were no longer the same there was no way for anyone but those who had been through Tartarus to relate to what it was like. Nico had his way of coping and it worked for him, but he was never willing to share it with even Jason. "Maybe, maybe you should tell him what you discovered of your powers… It might be time for that."

"That I pulled his body up from the bottom of the river Styx? I don't see how that could help him at all right now."

"The look in his eyes when he talks about Tartarus," Jason softened and sat down on his bed, "that is the same look I know I get when I think about—

"About what you did to Piper?" after Nico finished it for him Jason nodded. "Well I need to let him rest first," Nico looked back at the door, desperately wanting to get out of the piercing eyes of Zeus.

The other boy stood up and stretched, agreeing with Nico. "I am going to head out though, the kids are getting restless and I need to make sure I don't keep Reyna waiting."

"Not to mention Piper will kill you if you aren't home for dinner," Nico joked but Jason's smile didn't reach his eyes the way it normally did.

_Break_

Only being able to watch from the window of the infirmary was heartbreaking. Will wanted so badly to go with the others, all his friends leaving for New Rome. But he was needed where he was, at least for the next week until more people left he was stuck where he was to tend for the injured.

Jake Mason walked in just before they were about to take off. His body streaked from a Mediterranean tan to a solid black from grease and his clothes even had scorch marks in spots where he had been to careless. Will waved to him and strolled over to the taller demigod with a washcloth and pocket full of alcohol wipes. "What brings you in here other than needing to clean out those scrapes?" Will asked as he approached Jake.

There was a tension in Jake that Will wasn't use to, "I may have just wanted to see you," he joked and held his hand out for Will to examine. There was a large cut straight through the palm but other than that he seemed to be fine so Will grabbed gauze and proceeded to wrap him up.

"You know," Jake drawled, looking for something to talk about as the sun kissed demigod before him wrapped his hand with white bandages. "I really wish you were going to go with us."

"Yeah," Will chuckled as he finished up, "who else would bandage you up every time you push yourself too far?" He felt his stomach flutter and wished that for once he could just look into Jake's eyes and not want to run away.

Before he could process what was going on Jake had his chin pinched and lifted his face to be level with Jake's. The color of his eyes a steely green blue unlike any other campers, the eyes that could pull Will into them and never let go. "You are the only person I trust with this medical crap," Jake told him just before pressing their lips together and pulling Will closer to him.

"Well I sure hope I'm not interrupting anything," Nico's voice was a snicker as he watched the two boys in front of him finally figure things out. He had gotten tired of Jake coming into the infirmary for every little scrape and bruise just to see Will.

Turning around Jake gripped Will possessively, "Yes actually."

After he held up his hands Nico laughed again, "No need to be jealous," he said as he moved around Will, "just a friend remember? Granted I wouldn't hold it against him if he had oogled my ass a time or two."

"In your dreams," Will kicked Nico and turned back to Jake. "I- I wish you had decided to do this before you were going to be gone for at least a week. Until I can see you again anyways."

"I was hoping you would realize what was going on every time I came in here," Jake laughed at looked down at Will, "just, promise not to run off with anyone else while I'm gone, okay?"

Will wrapped his arms around Jake and pulled him into an even more romantic, deeper kiss. "I wouldn't dream of it," he said just as Lou Ellen called his name to, in her words, 'get your ass on the bus.'

"Please get going," Nico begged, "I can't take any more of this love shit."

Jake laughed as he ran out and Will turned towards Nico. "That is just because you are suffering through your own 'love shit' as you so nicely put it."

All Nico could do was intently glare at his own reflection as he looked to the mirror on the back of the door to Will's office. "I honestly thought I had finally buried these feelings," he admitted and let his head fall towards the floor, his bangs fell into his face and cast shadows over his eyes. "That boy makes me want to firmly hold a pillow over his face for a few minutes."

"Already talking about murdering him," Will placed his hand over his heart and laughed, "it sounds like true love little Nico."

Nico picked up a bag of plastic covers for thermometers and threw it at Will's face. "Won't you take this seriously for one minute? I mean this isn't really a new problem but I have to deal with the little shit known as Percy Jackson for the next couple of days. On my own Will, how the hell am I supposed to do that?" he leveled his gaze with the one Will was giving him and eventually fell back, knowing full well what Will was going to say.

"I thought you were ready for this," Will's voice was low and he stepped closer to Nico, "I am going to tell you once more, go talk to him. Percy has been different lately and if you aren't going to talk to him about your feelings then you can't hold anything he does against him. The boy needs a friend though Nico, he has been through a lot. Besides," he smiled at Nico and patted the boy's shoulder, "you have always been there for him before."

"Maybe you're right," heaving a great sigh Nico looked out the window past Will and thought about Percy, "maybe it is time for me to have an honest talk with him."

After he squeezed Will's shoulder and moved toward the door he could hear the other boy telling him to let Percy rest. His mind wasn't on going to Percy at the moment though, he knew it would be wrong to interrupt the boy's sleep, so he melted into a shadow to go back to his cabin and contemplate all that was on him mind. He was going to have to figure out how to talk to Percy before the two of them started to fall into old patterns.

_Break_

_Dear Percy, _

_There is always something that happens in war and that something leaves even the 'winning' side at a loss. Great heroes are not meant to live with all their shortcomings weighing heavy on their minds and yet here we all are. Broken as a clock that refuses to tick we are still expected to move forward. Time will tell who rises and who falls, but fear not for there is hope for all of us. An apology is in order for all that has happened and while coming from me it may mean little I must say that all I can see now is a road. There is no happy ending to dream of, just the same trudging path before all of us. Yet even on that path I see crossings and those are the important parts of life. _

_Do not put it past life to never let your path cross again. Something very important and special is about to happen if only you let it. _

_-Jason_

He folded up the paper and placed his glasses back in his bag before slipping the note underneath the cabin door. Jason had always been better with written words than speaking, the speaking could all be left to Piper, and he hoped that Percy would find his apology soon. The reaction he had to Percy needed an explanation, but even that was something that Jason couldn't force through the end of a pen.


	5. In the Eye of the Storm

Chapter 5: In the Eye of the Storm 

The middle of the night the medicine that Nico had given Percy wore off. It probably had something to do with the fact that Percy had thrown up most of it, but the bottom line was that around one am his dreams shifted from painting pictures of him with a blonde woman who coddled him into a large looming shadow that pulled him down into an abyss. He fell forward towards the darkness, red eyes glaring at him as he plummeted down and was swarmed by monsters.

_Break_

Nico wasn't sure what stirred him from his sleep; whether it was a basic instinct of knowing what Percy was in pain or if it was just the odd sound of rain pattering against his roof. He tossed the covers off of himself though and ran outside.

Camp Halfblood never got rain unless the fields needed it, so when his skin was assaulted with icy crystals he looked up at the sky. It wasn't cold out but as the frozen rain pounded against the earth Nico had chills shoot up and down his spine. There wasn't even time to throw on shoes as his mind went into protective mode watching campers from all the cabins stick their heads out to see what was going on.

The Poseidon cabin was the eye of the storm, not that it surprised Nico. He didn't even bother knocking, just threw himself through the shadows and burst out at Percy's side. Percy was clutching his own chest, short gasps of pain covered by his pillow and tears soaked into his sheets. There was no thinking about it as Nico reached out and brushed Percy's hair back from his face and knelt by his bedside.

Never in his life did Nico think he would see his hero a broken mess like this. He ran his fingers through Percy's wavy locks of hair and tried to bring him back through words alone.

"Annabeth," a pained cry came from Percy and Nico pulled his hand back. Of course Percy was still in love with Annabeth, the breakup was only a little bit ago and when you have been through so many life and death situations there is a bond there that can't be broken easy. So why did hearing it hurt so much?

Before he could put much more thought into it he felt as though everything inside of him was being burned. He looked at his body and saw blush dusting all of his skin, he coughed but there was liquid blocking his throat and he was finding it hard to breathe. His arm lifted up on its own and placed it back on Percy's head as all the fluid in his body returned to normal. A warm feeling still spread through his body, but Nico looked down at his hand and then at Percy's face. So this was what Percy could do.

Contact seemed to be soothing Percy's nightmares, but Nico needed to wake Percy in order to stop the storm that had started to grow. Every time that Percy jumped thunder clashed in the sky and campers cried out in surprise.

"Percy," the name came out as a whisper at first but Nico knew he had to wake up the one sleeping soon. It turned out to be easier than he expected, the moment that Percy started to cry for Bianca there was nothing to stop Nico from seeing the boys tears as he remembered what happened. Percy was broken from the past and Nico couldn't bring himself to run away again, especially when his running was what had been hurting the one he loved.

Another whimper escaped Percy's lips; "I made Nico hate me…"

"I don't hate you!" he almost shouted at Percy and the sound forced Percy's eyes to open, revealing the flared pupils of a scared sea prince. "How could you think I hate you?!" The two of them stared at each other stunned into silence as the storm outside sent the howl of wind and the ice hitting the side of the cabin became violent.

"… Nico?"

The hurt look that filled Percy's eyes made Nico hurt. He instantly moved away from the green eyed boy and willed the shadows to wrap around him. How could he have thought this was a good idea?

Unfortunately for him before he could travel away Percy gripped his wrist and held him tight. "Please, don't run away again." The shadows let go of their grip on Nico's body as he heard the pain in Percy's voice and sat on the floor in defeat. Percy looked at him as though he had just found a pearl inside a clam, his eyes sparkling with wonder at Nico yet still showing the pain of his dream. Thunder shook the cabin and Percy jumped, forcing the covers to fall on the floor.

"I won't," Nico muttered under his breath, catching the slight widening of Percy's eyes when he looked up from his pillow. "What?" he grumbled and grabbed the blanket before standing up and tossing it over Percy's shivering body. "I just said that I won't leave again, it isn't a big deal."

Percy relished in the motions of Nico's long, nimble fingers as they smoothed the blanket out over his half naked form on the bed. His pajama bottoms rode low on his hips since he had lost weight, and he had thrown his shirt on the floor after smelling it. "I never know when you're going to stay." He said sadly, his eyes roaming over to the bag he had packed after waking up the first time and finding Jason's letter. The thought of life getting better was hard to grasp, but Percy was hoping that the seven would help lift his mood in New Rome.

After he sunk back to the floor Nico avoided eye contact with Percy, choosing instead to look at the floor and all the trash that littered it. "If I say that I will stay, then I will," he stated bluntly and before he knew it Percy was gripping his chin, the bony fingers still strong and lifting Nico's face to meet the hurt filled green eyes.

"You haven't always said you would," he told Nico, watching as the words soaked in and Nico moved a bit farther away. "Ever since she passed you haven't been able to look at me, and to be honest I never really looked at you. The two of you were so much alike, not just in looks but how much you care as well. She… well I am sure you have talked to her but you never gave me a chance to tell you what happened. Bianca wouldn't give herself the credit she deserved. She was a hero only possibly surpassed by you."

"Children of Hades don't become heroes," Nico's voice was cold and flat, making Percy want to cry. But Nico knew that he had heard enough about Bianca, he knew his sister and he didn't need someone else to tell him how great she was because not even Percy could understand the half of it.

"She didn't just save all of us," Percy leaned just a bit out of bed and although he knew that talking about Bianca would hurt Nico he needed to say just this; "She saved me. She was smarter, had a better chance of getting out of the machine alive, but I was going to go and she stopped me. Bianca told me to be there for you and I failed that."

Shivers ran down Nico's back, he had figured that Percy had tried to do something stupid like that but he didn't think it had been his sister to stop the moron. He remembered one of the last conversations he had with her before she chose rebirth; remembered how she had told him that her death had been to protect something even more dearly to his heart. Stupidly he had thought it was the dumb doll she had been trying to get him, but it had been Percy. A wave of pain hit Nico's heart as he looked at the one person Bianca had protected, protected for him, and he knew that tears were starting to escape him. Percy gripped Nico's hand as he tried to cover his face and pulled the younger boy into him, embracing him in a hug so tight it felt as though the sea prince was trying to force him back together.

"I am so sorry Nico," Percy murmured the words into the boy's hair, "I wasn't worth the protecting…"

Nico froze, his tears still falling slowly down his cheek and he pushed back from Percy to look into his eyes. The pain there now noticeably because of how much he was struggling through what Bianca did.

"You can't help who you are Percy," Nico told him, "Bianca saved you because she knew how… Well, how I felt. But just because you can't love me back doesn't mean that she didn't save someone worth saving."

At that Percy blinked slowly, meeting the dark eyes of di Angelo as the two of them sat there holding one another like life lines. "Love you back?" he brushed hair out of Nico's eyes and watched as he turned bright red.

"I- I didn't mean anything like… Well I mean maybe at some point but- it just isn't as though—

Percy placed a finger of Nico's mouth to make him stop babbling. "Nico, do you love me?" he asked softly, the storm outside calming down to a slow beat of raindrops splashing against the cabin.

"I- I-," his tongue didn't want to form any words as he looked back at Percy. "Percy," he gulped and leveled his gaze before forcing his hands to stop shaking. "None of that matters now okay? We are friends now. None of that matters now."

"If we are friends why can't you tell me then?"

"Because it doesn't matter!" Nico snapped.

"Oh right, because you have Will now. Sorry I forgot," annoyed Percy pulled back from Nico and another strike of thunder started a more furious round of hail.

After raising an eyebrow Nico jumped to his feet and pointed at the window; "What the hell is this about Jackson? Do you see what you're doing? Why the fuck do you care so much about this now?!"

Now Percy was up on his feet, staring Nico down and feeling the wind and rain whip around the cabin. The sound of the boards under his feet creaking and the roof swaying above them reminded him of the power he had held in the wars. "Are you such a dumb, self-resenting being that you can't tell when someone cares for you?!"

"So now I'm stupid?" Nico felt his temper flare and the shadows inside the cabin began to shake and morph around both him and Percy. The ghosts of the past residences came to view around the son of Poseidon and he smiled as he watched Percy bat them away. "You're not the only one who can fight Jackson!"

He watched as Percy glared at him, a hint of astonishment in his eyes as he watched the shadows shake and the ground beneath quaked, neither of them sure if undead would crawl out or if it was just Percy. "Out of all of that all you got was me calling you stupid?"

There was no way that Nico could be that blind, is there? Percy stepped closer, their hair moving in a wind that began to surround them as though Zeus himself was tired of watching them dance around. "If that was all you got Nico then you're even denser than I am."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Nico glared back at Percy, refusing to take a step back as the son of Poseidon advanced on him.

Sighing in exasperation Percy gripped the front of Nico's shirt and pulled him closer, meeting the dark black eyes with his shining green ones before pressing his lips onto Nico's harshly. The sensation of the storm raging around them made them both feel euphoric and Nico wrapped an arm around Percy who was holding his face tenderly with one hand, the other still firmly clawed into his shirt. When they parted Percy had his pupils blown wide and all the wind around them picked up pace, the window had been forced open by the wind and rain was hitting both of them in the eerily lit room. No lightning struck but Nico still felt a shock go through his body as Percy shouted; "I love you!" over the howls and cries of the dead.

And just like that all of the storm erupted in one go; shadows were forced back and out along with the wind and rain. Everything around them died down and Nico could only imagine what the other campers were thinking as they watched all of it unfold. But the moment was short lived as Percy and Nico both realized what happened and the silence overtook them along with exhaustion.

They collapsed onto the bunk Percy slept in and Nico basked in Percy's scent as the two of them slipped away from consciousness.


	6. Damage and Friendship

Chapter 6: Damage and Friendship

Jason arrived to New Rome just in time to see Reyna and Annabeth kiss goodnight before he checked in with her. He smiled at how happy the two of them seemed to be before accepting a hug from Annabeth as she left Reyna's office, her face bright red. "I see the two of you have been enjoying spending time together," he smirked at Reyna as he sat down across from her at her desk.

Her eyes were guarded as she looked at him and he knew that they still were not on the best of terms. "It seems that way, yes," Reyna told him and found the papers she needed, "She is a strong counterpart that I can rely on."

"You deserve that," Jason told her honestly and took the stack of papers she was holding in her hand. He had left New Rome for Piper, but no matter how well he got along over there he was still the Son of Jupiter, never Zeus like his sister. Thalia got along much better at Camp because of her heritage, even if they had the same parents. So when Piper and Jason had gone to Rome it was nice to feel a part of the community again. He looked over the papers carefully, noting that each of the students he brought with him were going to be spending quite a bit of time with Reyna as they filed everything with the city. "Is she going to be the new Praetor?"

"No," with a quick shake of her head Reyna started to shuffle through her papers and try to organize them, "She is much too busy with all her renovations and such. Besides both of us have talked about it and while she may have earned respect from the city, it is probably still a bit too soon for us to have a child of Athena in office," Reyna smiled out her window and down at the remains of New Rome, "small steps."

After heaving a great sigh Jason stood up and stretched his hand out to Reyna, "Well if you need any help I am here." Her eyes sparkled slightly when he said that but Jason didn't wait to see what that meant. Instead he shook her hand, the firm grip bringing back the memory of when she congratulated him for making Praetor.

"Goodnight, Reyna," he coughed and turned to leave, a warm feeling filled his heart and he hurried out.

_Break_

When Piper caught sight of Jason coming home she smiled and placed the plates down on the table just as he opened the door. "How did everything go?" She asked cheerfully before sitting down at the table and waiting for him as she served both of them Macaroni and Cheese, since that was about all she could cook.

"Nico stayed behind for a day," Jason sighed and collapsed into the chair across from her, seeing her flinch at the sound made his chest clench with remorse. Ever since her seizure Piper had been jumpy and nervous around him, and he couldn't be upset because he knew that he deserved it. "He is bringing Percy back with him though. They just needed a night to rest."

Piper raised an eyebrow and that and waited for more information, but Jason just put a mouthful of food into his trap and smiled. "This is delicious!" he exclaimed and took another bite, smiling up at his girlfriend like she was made of diamonds. "You are a great cook."

"Thank you," she chuckled and then wiped her mouth, "so what are the developments with Percy and Nico?" it may be rude to pry but she had grown to like the Ghost King and she was still waiting for Nico to admit to Percy that there was still something there. She and Annabeth had talked about it, but Annabeth agreed that the two of them needed to admit their feelings on their own.

Jason sighed and then chuckled, it was true that Percy and Nico had become a major part of both of their lives. Both of them wanted their friends to be happy, yet it seemed as if neither of them cared about happiness anymore. "I think they will be okay," he admitted, "I went and talked to Percy… Well actually I went to tell him that he better not drag Nico on, but he was," he ran his hand through his hair and looked down at his now empty plate with a look of utter self-hatred for what he had done. "I think Percy is sick."

"Sick?" Piper dropped her fork onto the floor and stood up, "Why hasn't he told anyone? We should go back to camp… You should have stayed to look after him."

All of Piper's worry was giving Jason a headache and he took her hand to try and calm her; "I think he didn't say anything because everyone would react like you just did," he chuckled, "Percy was the hero of two wars, which puts a lot of strain on a person. He doesn't want everyone worried about him because he doesn't know how to handle that."

Thunder crackled overhead causing Jason to jump and sending a mild shock through his hand. Piper yanked away from him and Jason couldn't help but show the hurt on his face as she rubbed her fingers. "You were the hero of wars too Grace," her eyes were warm but something was missing from them that had been since he had hurt her long ago; "and you fell apart after the war. If I had asked for help maybe you wouldn't have…" The end of that sentence hung in the air and Jason got up from the table.

"I lost the ability to lead Piper," he confided to her, "joining the Greek side stripped all my authority as I followed Percy and Annabeth's orders. I don't- I don't regret what I did, staying with you was… Well I wanted to. But I feel like I lost a part of myself doing that, and it took a long time to find it again," their eyes met and she smiled at him.

"Have you found that part of you yet?" she asked softly and waited for Jason to respond.

_Break_

The next morning when Nico woke up he was thankful that he was back in his own bed. Unfortunately for him he wasn't alone.

Above him was a head of cinnamon brown curls and golden eyes. Hazel was glaring at him as though he were covered in mud and slimy green goo. "You want to tell me why Percy brought you back here so early this morning?" she narrowed her eyes and waited for him to respond but all he did was rub at his forehead. "I deserve to know Nico, you're my brother."

Once he finished yawning Nico tried to remember everything that had happened last night, but his memory was fuzzy on the details… "Percy was freaking out last night so I went to go calm him down. There was a storm in camp and we fought…" that was where things got hazy, "I think I got him to stop…"

Hazel rolled her eyes and went to the door, swinging it open she pointed outside; "I think you were a bit late on the stopping him part."

Where the courtyard was had been filled with rubble and the dirt paths were was rivers of mud. The fountain in the center was cracked open so none of the water was able to stay in it, the damage spread just out past the edge of the courtyard and thankfully stopped just before the fields.

"Wow," Nico tossed the covers back and walked to the doorway for a better look; "I didn't think the two of us did this much damage…"

"Yes well I would say you did," she huffed and moved to shut the door so the two of them could change. Nico was in nothing but a baggy black shirt and grey boxers so she really didn't want him seen by the entire camp. She herself was in a tank top and short shorts so that was even worse, but it had been all Piper had packed her before she left on her quest. "Both of us need to change so we can gather supplies and head back to New Rome before Reyna has a heart attack or slaughters all of the new arrivals."

Nico chuckled as he took a clean pair of pants from his dresser and shrugged into them, "I think Reyna has a decent distraction to keep her from flipping," he caught the curious look Hazel threw him and laughed, "You didn't hear? Where have you been?"

Once her shirt was on Hazel knew that Nico was looking back at her and she blew her hair from her eyes to meet his gaze, "Some of us still have to go and do things Nico. Reyna sent me to find the hunters so I could have them send a representative to make arrangements for if they ever needed shelter in the city. Too bad I don't get along all that well with those girls, they want someone to meet them later so they can be guided back. Thalia asked for Annabeth."

"Well while you were out playing diplomat Annabeth has been having her own fun. Reyna and she are an item now from what I can tell," he watched Hazel blush just before the fabric of his shirt fell over his face.

Hazel wasn't sure what to think about her Praetor dating Annabeth, the Athena girl was brilliant but ever since the war she had turned cold and distant. "I thought she was still dating Percy," her face contorted into one of deep thought and Nico smiled as she stuck her tongue out to concentrate.

"Well baby sister," he wrapped her into a hug, one of the few people he was so close with he could do that, and planted a kiss on the top of her head; "I think that Annabeth wanted something different. According to Percy the breakup was mutual." Just mentioning Percy's name made Nico's heart hurt and he started to regret letting himself get close to the trap again.

Laughter erupted from Hazel as she pushed Nico off of her, "I see you're in a good moos," she smiled and kissed his cheek, "any particular reason?"

"I'm-," Nico hesitated and thought, but his head hurt when he tried, "I'm not sure."

"Find out," Hazel ordered before slipping on a pair of boots over her jeans, "Because I want you to be this happy more often," with a wave of her hand she left the cabin to go get supplies and wake up Percy.

Leaving Nico alone.

Sighing Nico decided to throw on his shoes and go find Will. Maybe that boy would have an idea of what to do to help with this headache. He left the cabin through the shadows to avoid the mess outside and found himself in Will's office not a second later.

The blonde doctor did happen to have an idea of what to do. That idea was a hot mug of coffee. He laughed as he watched Nico drink the bitter liquid and make a face with each sip, but the caffeine started to kick in and Nico was thankful.

"So aside from a fuzzy memory what did you come in for?" Will asked as he took the empty cup from Nico and went over to the sink.

"I really wanted something to try and remember," Nico admitted but will just shook his head.

"Sorry, that is specialty and I won't give you any unless it is life and death. All you did was get into a fight with Jackson last night and exhaust yourself," he laughed and offered to refill Nico's mug, "did you finally tell him?"

Nico furrowed his brows, "I can't remember!" he growled frustrated, "I don't know if I did or not," letting out a groan Nico let his head fall against Will's shoulder. "Please Will?"

"Absolutely not," Will scolded him but set the mug down and embraced Nico in a hug, only to feel Nico tense underneath him; "Percy wasn't able to get his hands on that kind of medication after his memories were stolen, so neither will you after a bad night. Besides the memories will come back quickly if you let them," his smiled down at Nico just to receive a dramatic eye roll. "Anything that I can actually be of use for?"

Taking a step back from Will, Nico pulled out the list Jason had left him with; "I need everything on this list before Percy, Hazel, and I leave for New Rome."

A glossy look came over Will at the mention of New Rome. He hadn't even had a boyfriend twenty four hours and he was already across the country, but he took the list from Nico and read it over. "I will have this ready in fifteen minutes. Want to hang out?"

After looking around the empty infirmary Nico nodded, "Sure just let me know if anything needs to be done."

_Break_

Last night had been odd. Percy remembered telling Nico that he felt something for him, remembered the two of them yelling at each other, and remembered kissing Nico. But before they had time to figure out what all of that meant they had passed out on Percy's bed.

Waking up next to Nico was pleasant. It was the first night that Percy had slept peacefully. But he felt dread as he thought of what he had done; Nico had finally started to be happy. He had Will and friends now. He had gazed at Nico, who was wearing no more than an oversized t-shirt and boxers, but knew that it wasn't fair for Nico to wake up with him. So after selfishly relishing in holding Nico as the boy slept restlessly curled up next to him Percy picked him up and left the cabin. Outside was practically destroyed, but Percy ignored it as he carried Nico around the edge of the destruction to his cabin.

It all would have gone smoothly; the rest of the campers were still asleep and the sun hadn't even shown itself yet. The light outside was a beautiful pink and purple hue as Percy pushed the Hades cabin door open and was faced with a set of fierce yet kind golden eyes. Sometimes Percy wasn't sure who was more threatening; a calculating Annabeth or a protective Hazel. She had grabbed Nico from Percy, the boy stirred into half consciousness that she instantly soothed away before slamming the door in Percy's face with a look that said she would be talking to him later.

That had forced Percy back to his own cabin; he figured he owed it to Nico to try and get some rest. All the caffeine in his system was starting to be flushed out so his body could use a few more hours laying down at least.

He had been able to doze, waking and eating a section of pomegranate seeds before collapsing back on his bed again. The storm the night before had taken a lot out of him but he was thankful he was finally able to rest.

When he did wake up it was to the pounding on his cabin door. "I need to talk to you Jackson!" Hazel's voice sounded oddly terrifying and Percy contemplated not opening the door. Then a sharp point came through the wood and he could hear Hazel yell as she yanked her sword back out. He bolted for the door and swung it open, barely missing a ruby that came hurtling towards his head.

"Why were you carrying my half naked brother around in the middle of the night?!" Hazel fumed and forced her way into Percy's cabin.

"Come on in," Percy muttered under his breath but was silenced by the glare she shot him.

Sweeping her arm out Hazel looked around the room disgusted; "And what is this? Did the two of you get hyped up on sugar and caffeine all night? I swear if you kept Nico up all night playing video games—

"It isn't like that Hazel," Percy laughed and made a mental note to clean his room before anyone else came in. "I was having a bed dream," he pointed to the window, "apparently it resulted in that. Nico came over to try and calm me down…"

"Oh…" Hazel sighed and then raised an eyebrow at Percy, "Then why was he half naked?"

Percy felt his cheeks get hot and knew he was blushing; "He- he came over here like that! Must have come straight from bed. Then the two of us crashed here and I kind of felt bad so I brought him back to his cabin."

"Good," Hazel nodded and Percy wasn't sure what to think.

"Good?"

Another nod, "I know that Nico likes you Percy. I'm glad you're not leading him on. If you hurt him I would hate to send you to the underworld, but Nico is my brother and he has done a lot for me."

Astonished Percy gaped at her, "So you would kill me?"

She shook her head, "I probably would hate you forever though. And I may tell my father to take you to dungeons, but you are too close a friend to do that to."

Wiping the back of his hand across his forehead Percy sighed with relief. Hazel was officially more terrifying than Annabeth. "Hazel?" he asked softly, seeing her warm eyes made him want to open up to her. After the war he had distanced himself from his friends and it was nice to have her back with him; "Do you really think that Nico still likes me?"

"I don't think he is the type to let people go," she told him. "Why Percy? Is there something you want to talk about?"


	7. I Care About You

**Hello! **Just so everyone is aware, this story is not on hiatus by any means. I am very sorry for how long it has taken me to update this story. Life just happened to blindside me and I am sure each of my readers can understand that. I hope that you all enjoy this update though :) I will be doing another very soon to make up for my long absence. Please review and let me know what you all think :)

Chapter 7: How Many Times do I Have to say; I care about you

Nico watched with curious eyes as Percy made his way up the hill with Hazel. Will handed him a bag with everything they had asked for before wrapping Nico into a tight hug.

"Tell Jake that I miss him," he told Nico before leaning in closer and whispering in his ear; "and let him know that when I get there I will make sure everyone knows he is mine."

"You pervert!" Nico jumped back from the feeling of Will's breath as the blonde laughed against his ear.

Hazel looked worryingly over at Percy as the two of them walked up to Nico. She knew now that Percy had basically broken up with Annabeth because he had realized he hadn't been true to himself through the wars. Everything was equal between those two and yet she hadn't been able to bring herself to tell Percy that he had it wrong between Will and Nico. Some deep down part of her had to remain loyal to Nico and make sure that Percy truly cared for him and wasn't just in shock from her brother's confession.

But watching him now she was starting to see that there may be something true here. His face fell as he watched Nico and Will engage in their rough housing and had the decency to look away from them. All he really wanted was for Nico to be happy, and perhaps it was too late for him to be the one to cause Nico to smile anymore.

"Have fun you guys," Will gave an encouraging pat on Percy's shoulder as he left Nico at the hill, "and let me know if you need anything," he gave Percy a look that was obvious he knew that Percy had something going on but offering help just made Percy realize how perfect the blonde was. It was impossible for Percy to dislike Will regardless of how jealous he was of the son of Apollo. He smiled as Will left them all together on the top of the hill, waiting for Nico to say that it was time to go.

"Come on Nico!" Hazel looped her arm through his and smiled at her brother; "time to bounce!" Her hair moved as she jumped up and down next to him and he smiled at her enthusiasm.

"Well," Nico hesitantly shifted his gaze to Percy who was standing awkwardly off to the side. Perhaps Nico had said something to him last night and now Percy couldn't even look at him. Hazel reached out before Nico could do anything though and pulled Percy towards them.

"You have to hold onto Nico if you don't want to be left behind," she laughed as though it was some big joke and Percy gripped Nico's forearm. Nico looked up at him but shrugged off any nerves so he could focus on getting the three of them to New Rome.

_Break_

Jake had been hoping that the blonde doctor from camp would have joined the two children of hades but he was still happy to see Percy and Nico standing with each other, actually touching one another. He had spent enough time around Will and Nico to desperately want the boys to go through some sort of breakthrough. Over half of the time that the son of Hades spent with Will was him going on about Percy this and Percy that; it got annoying because Will saw Nico as a little brother and put all his energy into helping the younger boy.

But he tried not to hold that against either Nico or Will. If anything he had grown attached to Nico and found it annoying that Percy couldn't see what he was missing by not going after the boy always lurking in his shadow. Though he knew that it was not fair if Percy were straight, Jake had been around and seen how Percy adored Luke before the war. He had seen the fall of Percy after Luke died, and it was hard to say whether or not he was jealous of how close Annabeth was to the damaged son of Hermes because he was in love with her or in love with him. Percy was too much of an open and honest person to care about genders and such, even if he was straight he wouldn't cut Nico out of his life simply because the boy was gay.

So when he saw Percy storm away from Nico the moment they were steady he had to glare at the green eyed boy before he approached Nico. "What the hell is his problem?" Jake huffed and looked back towards Nico.

"He hasn't been feeling well," Hazel's golden eyes gazed at Percy as he retreated, maybe seeing how he had reacted to Will and Nico had been a bit overdone but she knew he cared. But how was he going to get past it?

"Maybe he should look at removing the pole from his ass," Jake snorted and turned back to Nico; "any news on when Will can join us?"

Nico shook his attention away from Percy's retreating figure and back to the tall, dark skinned son of Hephaestus before him. "He doesn't know when he can make it to New Rome," he admitted, "although he is trying to get over here next week, ha had a few… ideas, of things the two of you could do." A shudder ran through Nico as he remembered the whisper of nasty things that he wanted relayed to Jake but Nico couldn't force the words out.

Seeing the bright red blush on Hazel's and Nico's cheeks Jake laughed; "Well I can't wait to have my boyfriend back. Him and you really have no boundaries, do you?"

Another shudder ran down Nico's spine and he started across the construction site towards what was serving as Reyna's office. "I'm going to go check in with boss lady," he called back at them and heard Jake laughing.

"Tell her we all want lunch!"

Being back in New Rome made Nico feel both uneasy and ecstatic at the same time. New Rome had been the place he had found Percy, been the safe haven he brought Hazel to, was a home for him when he needed it even if not everyone wanted him there, and most importantly had been where his family was staying these past few week. He had been looking forward to the idea that Annabeth had of New Athens but all of them knew that before making a new city they should fix the one that had been destroyed. The cities were something that Nico found hard to grasp, a permanent place for him to live was like a fantasy.

As he got close to the hut that Reyna had assembled for himself he laughed; she was standing outside talking with a few of the workers and noticed him. Without even letting the workers finish explaining she ran from them to Nico, wrapping him in a hug and smiling. He went frigid at the touch but eventually relaxed. They had fought side by side and slept together as Coach watched their backs on the trip to bring Athena's statue home, he could not find a way to have stayed distanced from her.

"Oh Nico I am so glad you are here, I love seeing you especially now! I need all the help I can get with this reconstruction!" She let him go and was already dragging him towards the inside of the tent where her desk was.

"Is that why you kidnapped half of Camp Half Blood under false pretenses of easy school experience?" he chuckled and collapsed in a chair in her 'office'.

She laughed at him and took her own seat, crossing one knee over the other and smiling at him; "You are going to be entertaining the idea of school as well Mr. di Angelo," she brought out a folder and handed it to him. "I think starting you off as a junior is fair?" once he lowered his eyebrow and rolled his eyes she continued; "I figured your history is fairly advanced but you still need to finish up those last couple years."

"Oh thanks," his voice was thick with sarcasm but he signed the papers inside and handed the folder back to her. "I brought Percy along," her face filled with worry but he waved away her concerns; "he is already heading over to the fifth cohort's bunks. But I figured putting him into classes would be a good idea as well. He won't go for it but his mom will force him," he chuckled at the thought of Sally Jackson marching across the country to wake her son up for classes. The scary part was that he wouldn't put it past her, ever since Percy got back from the wars Sally was adamant of making sure that she didn't act as though everything was different. She didn't want her son to think she felt he was too broken.

Reyna smiled at Nico; "look at you taking care of big shot hero Jackson," she joked but Nico leveled a smirk of his own.

"From what I have heard you are caring for a big shot hero yourself," he chided and dodged a pen she threw towards his face. "Just pointing out the obvious!" with a pout he leaned back in the uncomfortable chair, "but really I am offended Reyna, I had to make sense of the grapevine to figure out that Annabeth was with you! Falling for another blonde I see," he wagged his eyebrows while Reyna found another pen to throw at him.

Once three pens failed to his the dark clad boy Reyna huffed and brushed a few strands of hair from her face so she could glare down her nose at Nico. The air of regality that surrounded her was powerful and Nico thought for a moment that he should bow. "I am allowed to have a personal life Nico," her voice was flat as she spoke to him and Nico knew that she was pushing him back from her. "I am not just Praetor."

Agreeing Nico nodded, "You're my friend as well," he reached out and took her hand in his, the fabric of his fingerless gloves rubbed over her fingers, "just remember that." Nico of all people knew how hard it could be to let people in, and the fact that the few that had been a part of Reyna's life left her was hard to handle. Though Nico was friends with Jason, there were times when he wanted to hit the son of Jupiter over the head with a two by four. What he had done to Reyna, choosing a relationship built of false memories, had not only been stupid but it had nearly lost them a war. Relationships should be built gradually, not forced together out of fear of being alone and Nico knew that was what happened. Before leaving Nico pulled Reyna into a hug and held her tight, she shook underneath him but he just gripped her tighter and hold her together so she wouldn't fall apart. It reminded him of a hug he had gotten once, one where it felt like if the other person had let go he would have just burst to dust.

_Break_

Shadow traveling was something that Percy figured he had forgotten about. He had traveled with Nico once before on Mrs. O'Leary's back, and even that had been exhilarating. But it was nothing like actually holding onto Nico while they were consumed by shadows and felt like they were flying, when he had his hellhound with him Nico and Percy didn't have to touch the way they did now. He hadn't realized how powerful Nico felt when controlling his realm that way, or how protected Percy had felt in the dark with the one person who was capable of taming its shadows.

And all of that, all the rush he had felt and the comfort he had taken in being held by and holding Nico. None of it could mean anything. Nico had acted like their kiss never happened, and Percy had been impulsive and not thought about Will when he forced the kiss on Nico. Now all he felt was guilt for what he had done, and to a happy couple. At least Nico didn't seem like he was going to rat Percy out to Will.

But did Percy really want that? Why was he still so unhappy if he had gotten to kiss Nico?

The bunks of the fifth cohort loomed over Percy. It was one of the few remaining bunks, and he knew that he could stay somewhere else but he almost didn't want to. The crumbled end of the bunks was little more than crumbled brick but it was still the first place that Percy had stayed when he came to New Rome the first time. Aside from these bunks the only place that would feel like home might be the Neptune temple, but that was out of the option.

"Hey!" a familiar voice called out and Percy was jumped from behind by a man with two large arms. "Good to see you coming back!"

He turned and clapped Frank on the back before laughing; "Well I realized that you guys can't function without me so I thought I would swing by."

"Good to see your still down to earth there," Frank smiled and brushed some rubble from his short cropped hair before turning back to look at the wreckage. "We are rebuilding as fast as we can. Reyna thought that it would be a good idea to do the bunks first, then the temples, and then the other buildings. Annabeth is designing most of it; the barracks and all student living will be more like dorms, and I know she has been having a hay day with the temples and the rest of the city. The school was rebuilt already, done with the student housing before Reyna wrangled a bunch of the younger demigods to help with the rest of the city."

Percy cringed, "Time to rebuild and you start with a school? Sounds like something Reyna would do. How has Leo been handling all of the rebuilding since he got back?"

"Well Calypso is here with him, but I have no idea how that ball of fire keeps up with everything Reyna is dumping on his plate. He spends a lot of his time working on ideas with Annabeth and while he does that Calypso explores the 'Roman camp' as she keeps calling it."

"At least he is staying busy. That kid's ADHD is off the radar even for a demigod," Percy chuckled and silently thanked the fact that Frank was acting normal around him. Ever since they had been back from the war people either treated him like some great hero or like he needed to be tip toed around. He wasn't sure which was worse though; the tip toeing around was annoying but there was at least a caring thought behind it. The kids who ran up to him and wanted to hear about his 'amazing' or 'epic' tales bothered him. A generation of children were looking forward to the next war, looking forward to possibly being the next Percy Jackson, and they had no idea that all he had done was let people down and hurt inside himself.

Even Annabeth cringed when people asked her what it was like fighting titans and Gaea, she was still tormented by the curses left on her. Percy was able to handle what the curses entailed, but Annabeth had seen the pain she caused and hated it. Now she faltered with her dagger, not enough to notice all the time but enough for Percy catch. He was too worried about her to think about what would happen if she went out on another quest, but lately Chiron had left quests to other campers and the seven focused on training and rebuilding. It was a good change even if it made Percy restless.

He and Frank walked in absolute silence, making Percy feel comfortable as the sun bled through the clouds above them. His skin was pale from all the time he had been spending holed up in his cabin, and he hadn't realized how much weight he had lost until the wind hit his shirt and the fabric swayed away from him like it was two sizes too big. If he wasn't able to start keeping some food down he was going to wither away to nothing…

As they reached the top of the hill between the temple area and the city Percy caught sight of the new building that they were doing. Some of the city was still intact, and they had a few people working to clean those few buildings up. A rickety apartment complex casted a shadow over the area where Percy had shown up with Nico, and tents dotted the grass like white balloons. He knew they were probably set up for various assignments but most people seemed to be crashing in them when it got too hot. Behind all that, in the center of the wreckage was a brand new building with gleaming white marble columns and a red brick façade walls with tall open windows and high towers. It was as though gothic fairytale architecture and roman structures clashed and formed something perfectly Annabeth. That was all it showed him, a beautiful castle with Greek and Roman influences that screamed Annabeth and all her brilliance. He stopped and gaped at the structure and the nearly finished dorms that encompassed it.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Frank hit Percy on the arm to wake him from his daze. "Annabeth is quite the architect, her mother should be proud."

_Break_

How Percy could be more adorable Annabeth would never know. She caught sight of him as he stood with Frank on the top of the hill; if there had been a tree beside him it would have reminded her of the sight she saw before the wars when she had left him to stay with her father. All of it was heightening her mood; the buildings and the fact that Percy had finally joined them. Reyna nudged her to go and see the boy, laughing at the bright blush the rose up in her cheeks. She knew that Annabeth and Percy talked nearly every day and they had a bond that could never be broken.

"Percy!" Annabeth cried and threw her arms around Percy. "Why didn't you tell me that you were coming? I've missed you so much!"

Percy coughed and wrapped his arms around her in response. "I have had a lot going on," he let himself smile and pressed his lips to the top of her head. "I figured this would be a good surprise."

"Oh it is!" Annabeth felt a tear fall down her cheek and hastily wiped it away. "You have lost weight," before she could stop it the words slipped out and both of them let go of one another. Her mind instantly went to where it always goes when the thoughts of Tartarus started to darken her mind. "It's been getting warmer so your body is probably just getting rid of all its winter weight."

"But fall is coming," Frank stated the obvious and received a glare from Annabeth as she tried to find something else to say. Her face was nearly panicked and her brow furrowed as though her mind wasn't coping with the statement.

Before she could have a breakdown Percy came to her rescue with a laugh. "I'm sure you're right Annabeth," he patted Frank on the back, the two of them sharing an understanding to not push farther. "I'll meet you down there Frank? We can catch up."

"You got it," Frank smiled and ran down the hill towards the work.

Annabeth and Percy stood in silence for a while before he finally reached out and touched her again. She flinched away from him and he shoved his hand back in his pocket. "How have you and Reyna been?" he asked tentatively, not sure how much an ex was supposed to ask about their ex's new relationship.

As always though, Annabeth set him at ease with her laugh and smile. "Don't be so stiff Jackson," she chided him and linked her arm through his before leading him down to the field of tents and workers.

_Break_

Jason hugged Nico as they finished up the final touches on the dorm rooms before leading him to the room he would be staying in. After hooking up the electricity all of them were excited to see the light switches actually do something because despite the hope they had all put in Jason the boy didn't seem to be an electrician. At one point he had gotten frustrated and overloaded the circuits. It caused them an extra two hours of work but no one was all that upset with him.

After talking to Nico and then getting a report on Percy from Frank, Reyna decided to let the son of Poseidon have the day to himself. It also kept her girlfriend busy so that was good.

"The rooms are large," Nico commented as he looked around. They were designed for students of course, but they had large beds on each side of the room and windows over each headboard that looked out to the courtyards. The beds were comfortable and a long yet low bookcase divided them like a nightstand would. On the outer sides of the beds was an individual nightstand and then along the wall each had their own dresser. Bathrooms were shared between the rooms so four people would be sharing, and then there was a closet and two desks per room. "I guess Annabeth was tired of people ending up on the floor after seeing the Hermes cabin," he laughed and slid the books he had picked up for school onto one of the shelves.

"That would be my guess, and she also didn't want the whole dorm sharing one bathroom," Jason laughed, "Although the public baths are already open again."

Nico licked his lips at the thought of catching Percy in the public bath but he quickly hid the action by collapsing on what he was deeming his bed. "So who is my roommate? And bath mates? I couldn't stand sharing with a bunch of dirty people Jason, you know me so I hope you hooked me up."

He could hear Jason take in a sharp breath and he sat up on his bed to look at the other boy. "This is kind of funny but umm-," Jason had a smile on his face that Nico desperately wanted to smack off but before he had the chance there was a knock at the door.

Percy walked into the room with blush on his cheeks. Jason hesitantly waved his arm over the other boy to usher him towards the rest of the room. "Nico I believe you and Percy have met?" Jason earned himself a glare from both Nico and Percy before he nervously chuckled, "You two will be rooming with each other from now on. Hope you two get along," before he could be yelled at Jason ran out of the room and shut the door behind him. He wasn't sure what Reyna had been thinking when she stuck Nico with Percy but right now he just didn't want to be around when the shit hit the fan.

"Sorry to intrude," Percy muttered and tossed his bag onto the bed opposite Nico. "I hope this won't be a problem."

Still glaring at the closed door, Nico only caught part of what Percy was saying. "What?" he asked as he tore his attention away from the wood and looked at his new roommate. Percy was wearing a pair of workout sweats that didn't quite fit him anymore and hung low on his hips. The shirt that was loose as well showed just a hint of his stomach as he stretched and the dip of his v and hipbones was prominent enough for Nico to want to drool. Despite the weight that Percy had lost he still had muscle definition and Nico could see what used to be as he gazed over Percy's body.

Letting himself collapse on the bed Percy looked up at the ceiling while he spoke. "I just mean that I hope I won't bother you."

"You're not enough to fluster me Jackson," Nico huffed and tore his gaze away from the smooth skin that showed the flexing of muscles with every movement Percy made.

That made Percy sit up straighter than Nico had ever seen. The two boys locked eyes and Nico thought of how soft Percy's lips were, as if some part of him already knew their textured and how they would be forceful to dominate a kiss. "I hope you brought some pomegranates or other fruit so you won't be taking up the bathroom. You share this one with people." Nico tried to hide his blush as Percy looked him up and down.

"I should apologize," Percy sighed and Nico raised an eyebrow at him. "For last night. I shouldn't have done what I did but I really wish that you would quit acting like it didn't happen."

Nico blinked at that and thought for a moment. He had been sure that he had done something to upset Percy the night before, so why was Percy apologizing? In fact Nico had made sure to give Percy his space to cool off, was this all about the storm? "Percy, it isn't like you were really in control of your powers last night, there isn't a need to apologize to me. Although I must admit that you're powers are very interesting."

"Interesting?" Percy wasn't sure what Nico was referring to.

"Well yeah, I mean I didn't realize that you could control the water in a person's body. Though it isn't as surprising as Jason controlling electromagnetic waves inside the human brain."

Panic filled Percy as Nico spoke and he shifted on the bed. "You- you saw me controlling-," he was stuttering but he couldn't believe that Nico was being so calm about this. "I- I am so sorry Nico. Gods I thought everything else I did to you was terrible. Did I hurt you? Gods no wonder you pretended like nothing happened."

"What?" Nico got up from his bed as Percy started to hyperventilate. "Isn't this what you were apologizing for? Percy you didn't hurt me at all… Calm down."

"I can't calm down if I did that to you!" Percy had tears gathering in his eyes and he flinched away from Nico. "There is no apologizing for that! I- I- oh gods now I have done that horrible thing in front of both of you. Gods, I can't- I shouldn't let anyone get close to me."

A hand came down on Percy's cheek at that. He turned and saw Nico glaring at him as though he had just killed Hazel. "Percy, don't you dare talk like that. If you do, I will- I will beat the crap out of you and then drag you around so everyone else can beat you up. You are not allowed to say that you aren't worth people caring about you. What would Annabeth say? What would your mom say?"

Still in shock Percy lifted his hand to his cheek. "My mom would probably cry," he admitted, "Annabeth did to, but I scared her. I scared her in that hell hole, and I scared myself."

"You were in Tartarus," Nico growled, "Of course you are going to discover your inner most power down there. Especially with protecting Annabeth. My powers came protecting someone I cared about, Jason's came out when he was protecting someone… That's how we find out just what lengths we will go to for people."

Percy paused and looked at Nico; "You can do something like that too?"

Another sigh came from Nico and he scrunched his eyebrows together like he wasn't sure if he should tell Percy or not. "It was a long time ago—

"I promise I won't judge," Percy swore, he didn't know why but he needed to hear what Nico had done.

"I-," he sighed again and closed his eyes, he would never be able to look at Percy when he told him this; "I can control bones. Even the skeleton of a live being… When I was eleven I saved someone from drowning because I couldn't let them go." He could feel his cheeks heat up while he spoke.

An odd silence filled the room until Nico finally opened his eyes to see Percy staring at him with disbelieving eyes. They were so large, bright and yet broken as he looked at Nico. "Can you please stop staring at me?" he begged Percy but Percy just blinked at him.

"You, you saved someone? From drowning?" Nico nodded as Percy spoke. "That is so sweet Nico… You said they were important to you, who was it?"

Nico couldn't believe this. Was Percy really that dense? His face must have shown how dumbstruck he was because Percy was quirking an eyebrow in a way that made him look even more adorable. "I'm sorry, it is probably personal. I didn't mean to pry."

"That isn't why-," shaking his head Nico laughed. "Never mind, it is just that I thought you would have figured it out. I mean I didn't have many people in my life by then so it isn't hard to realize who was important to me…" Gods Nico hoped he didn't actually have to come out and admit that it was Percy.

"Yea…" Percy blushed and looked away from Nico, "You weren't around camp much though. Or me," his smiled slipped of his face and Nico instantly felt sorry for all those years, "I guess it was probably someone you met on your travels. Or Will…" there was something nearly guilty when he said Will's name that Nico didn't understand.

"Gods Percy," Nico groaned, "I didn't meet Will until years after that, and it isn't like I had friends outside of camp. That would have just put people in danger. Come on what happened when I was eleven?" Percy still looked lost and Nico sighed, "There was more reason to you nearly burning away after you were pulled from the river than you think that year. Someone had to pull you out," Nico rolled his eyes and looked away from Percy.

He heard Percy scoff and felt the boy adjust on his bed; "I guess I should have figured it was me," Nico refrained from any comments he had, "You were always saving me, weren't you?"

Regardless of how the words hung in the air Nico still refused to look at Percy. "What were you apologizing for earlier then?" he asked hesitantly. He wanted to know what had happened that night but Will had already told him he would need more rest for the memory to return.

"Oh," Percy started to fidget with his hands and neither of them made eye contact. "I guess I just felt bad," he paused like he expected Nico to say something there. "I shouldn't have pushed you the way that I did, I don't want anything to happen between you and Will but I figured you deserved to know… Especially after everything we had talked about…"

Great, that told Nico next to nothing. He knew that he had no chance finding out now without flat out asking Percy so he turned and caught Percy's eye. "I really feel stupid," Nico admitted, "but I am guessing that I was so exhausted that I don't remember half of what happened last night… Will told me my memories would come back with some rest but I've been working all day. The dirty little bastard wouldn't give me anything to force them back either, he is being all moral conscious since he got with Jake. So would you mind explaining to me what happened?"

"Wait," Percy held up a hand and looked at Nico; "Will and Jake?"

"I tell you about memory loss and you want to gossip about my friend and his lover, whose love life I know far too much of and it hasn't even started?" Nico gave him an astonished look and crossed his arm. "Damn it Percy just tell me what happened last night!"

A small smile found its way to Percy's lips against his will. He had been so devastated that Nico had Will that he couldn't help but feel as though he had won a marathon looking at Nico now. Knowing that his crush was available and the two of them were bantering almost as they had last night. "Well I guess it is only fair that I am oblivious since last night I kissed you and you still didn't get the message that I care about you apparently."

Nico was stunned to silence as Percy looked him over. Then all of a sudden Percy was on him, cupping his face gently and pulling the other boy towards him before swinging a leg over to straddle him. "This time I will make sure the message is clear," Percy spoke in a hushed voice and his lips barely left Nico's to speak as he worked his hands underneath Nico's black bomber. How the guy could wear that thing all through summer was beyond Percy.

The kiss was so intense and sudden that Nico went still for a moment. When he got his will back though Percy was already slipping his jacket from his shoulders, his hands working their way down Nico's arms until they found skin. The coat fell back behind Nico and his mind started to race.

Percy couldn't believe what he was doing, he was touching Nico! Once he was rid of the jacket he was surprised how fast Nico's arms shot around him, not even giving him the satisfaction of looking at the toned muscles that adorned Nico these days. He was glad to feel hands in his hair though, and he wondered how far Nico wanted to go. Cautiously Percy lifted the hem of Nico's shirt and traced a finger over what felt like a scar on Nico's abdomen. Nico quickly pulled his shirt down again, cutting off access to his six pack.

"I never knew you had your appendix out," Percy moaned against Nico's lips. "Is the scar ticklish?" but Nico slipped his tongue into Percy's mouth before responding. He moaned against Nico's lips, relishing in the fight that they were having with each other's mouths. Without even meaning to his hands found Nico's and moved for the boys wrists so he could pin Nico's arms over his head.

To keep the upper hand Percy leaned Nico back onto the bed and pinned his arms up before the other boy knew that what happening. But when he broke the kiss and saw the boy underneath him, open and exposed, he stopped and looked again. Taking in all of Nico's beauty, all of his perfect flaws, and all of his pain.

That seemed to have been when the blood returned to Nico's brain because he instantly threw Percy off of him and made a grab for his coat to leave.

_Break_

Annabeth was ecstatic. Reyna and her had just finished the final planning stages for a temple for Artemis and neither of them could be happier. The temple had been Annabeth's main design project for the past few days, and after talking to Hazel she had thrown all her time into completing it before she left to find the hunters. To Reyna the entire project had brought that much more life into Annabeth, and the final sketches and blueprints she had were amazing beyond belief.

"The hunters won't be able to say no," she said before kissing Annabeth and pulling her into a hug.

"Are you sure?" Annabeth asked nervously but buried her face into Reyna's chest. She felt safe, and sheltered, and she loved the rosy scent that her girlfriend wore. Ever since Tartarus Annabeth loved to surround herself with fresh and flowery scents, the burning smell that had filled that pit still haunted her. "I want Thalia to like it," she admitted.

"Thalia will love it," Reyna told her confidently, "she would love anything you built."

At that Annabeth blushed and she was thankful that Reyna couldn't see it.

**Note:** There you guys go :) Let me know what you guys think is going to happen, or not happen. And let me know what you guys think of Nico and Percy's relationship build, and what you think will happen between them now. Thank you guys :)

-Megara aka TheLastHeroesDaughter


	8. Pain

Chapter 8: Pain

Nico wasn't sure who to go to, actually he knew who would be there for him but she was gone. She would never be there to tell him it was alright again and it was times like these that he thought about that and wondered, if he could hold onto this depression maybe he could let Percy go. Now though he knew it was never possible. He had dealt with two wars, his sister's death, and been given the opportunity to have Percy completely gone but none of that changed the way he looked at Percy.

For the longest time Percy had been his lighthouse. No matter how dark the situation, the great hero had managed to brighten Nico's life. It had never been enough though, the smiles and laughs that Percy had granted him only forced him to hide deeper inside himself. He had never admitted to anyone that he was so far gone that feeling anything was a blessing. That even just feeling pain saved him from spiraling out of control.

All of it had started when Bianca had died. He remembered running away from Percy that night and losing track of his location as he ran from camp and monsters, the overwhelming feeling that he was going to die. He had managed to fight off most of the monsters but he was too lifeless to put much effort into defending himself towards the end.

Then one of his attackers had lashed out and cut his shoulder.

Adrenaline had coursed through him as his mind focused on the pain, and Nico blacked out in total bliss. He woke up the next day in a field, his arms a sticky bloody mess and his head finally clear. After patching himself up he left to find some sort of safety, even briefly considered going back to camp, but he found a cave that offered him something of his own.

Now he could feel his fingers graze the scar that started it all. After the war everyone had been so lost, and Jason had been impressed with how well Nico had been able to cope with all of it. Percy had closed himself off, Jason had worked to find respect, but Nico had just continued his bad habits. Scars littered his body and each one had a story, a history, a pain that he had tried to get rid of. But none of that would matter to people who saw them.

He had wanted so badly to tell someone. Jason? Piper? Leo? But none of them would have understood that it wasn't about the pain, that it was about using pain to stay alive. That when it all had started he would just be reckless and find a monster to challenge him and inflict him with pain. Poison was curable so it didn't matter what they cut him with in his mind, and yet as time went on he found it easier to kill anything that came after him. He couldn't bring himself to just give in to his doom because Bianca would have made his eternal life a living hell. Even though he knew for a fact they would be in different parts of the underworld she would travel to him and curse him.

So when it got harder to find an opponent he had turned to himself. They were small at first, just enough to feel the sting. But then the sting faded away and it was the spiral of a drug addict, needing more to feel the high. And he had known that it was a problem, but he didn't want to die.

That was what he hated the most. He hated life but he didn't want to end it, at least not then. All the darkness around him and for some reason he was still an optimist. The thought made him laugh. Who would ever think the creepy goth kid was an optimist?

Looking around Nico realized he was at the edge of New Rome. He found himself not wanting to shadow travel away, Percy didn't deserve that again, but he hadn't paid attention to where he was going when he left their room. Now he was looking out at a forest, he was probably in the middle of it since he had lost sight of the city. So he let himself fall to the ground and gripped frantically for his wallet where he kept a razor blade. The metal shined at him and he gripped it tightly between his fingers while he thought of every time he relied on such a small blade to save him.

"Nico!" Percy's voice rang out around him. The tone changing as it bounced around his head; the angered Percy when Nico had let Hades take him to the dungeons, the desperateness when he had called for Nico in Daedalus' labyrinth, relief every time he had found Nico. That voice inflicted both pain and joy as he went to bring the blade across his arm.

That was when a hand grabbed his wrist and yanked it to the side. The blade was barely able to nick at his skin before it was sent across the forest floor and arms were wrapping Nico up to cradle him. He struggled to get free from the person trying to comfort him but their grip was like iron and he looked up to find a pair of large green eyes shining like they were about to fill with tears.

"Get away from me," Nico growled, his walls going up as he realized that the voice hadn't just been in his head. "Let me go Jackson."

"No."

Surprised Nico glared back at Percy. "What did you just say to me Jackson?"

"Stop using the last name di Angelo," Percy warned him. "I am not going to let you hurt yourself you selfish prick!"

Now Nico was officially confused. He blinked wide eyed at Percy and withheld the urge to slap the other boy in the face. "What the fuck? Just let me GO!" They stared at each other for a moment before Percy stood up with Nico in his arms and dropped him on his back. Nico made an 'oomph' and glared at Percy harshly again before standing up and turning on his heel.

He started to run from Percy, not caring that he was probably going to end up in China with how chaotic his thought process was. Behind him though Percy whispered; "You said you wouldn't leave."

Nico stopped dead in his tracks, the shadows in front of him thickening and shaking with his frustration. He dug his nail into the small nick on his wrist to stay centered, "That wasn't today, when I said that I wasn't here… I was on the other side of the country so let it go."

"Maybe you had the right idea," Percy chuckled sadly and Nico turned to face him, "maybe never letting anyone in would keep me from feeling this way. Maybe being in physical pain is better than feeling like this…"

_Break_

Bouncing on her heels Annabeth was nervous to see Thalia. She remembered how protective the daughter of Zeus had been when they were younger and now Annabeth was older than Thalia now, at least physically, and she had no idea what she had to expect. The two of them talked off and on but it was difficult between the wars and hunter assignments to stay in constant contact.

"You sure look excited girly," Clarisse was standing by Annabeth's side awaiting the arrival of the hunters. "Excited to make your girlfriend proud?"

Cutting her grey eyes to the side to look at the taller girl Annabeth huffed; "Shut up Clarisse. You're only here to show Chris that you don't plan on joining them."

Clarisse laughed and nudged Annabeth's side; "Well he has nothing to worry about. Could you imagine me around a bunch of girls all the time? Besides they were a ton of white, not my color." At that both of them started to laugh and Annabeth had to cover her mouth as she saw the hunters getting closer to them in their silver jackets and with their bows on their backs.

Thalia was leading them, her black hair still chopped short and she had her blue dye streaked into a few strands on the side of her head. The dye matched her striking blue eyes that were lined with black liner to extenuate her lashes and brightening her eyes. She was the only one without her bow and she looked as though she were glowing when she got closer to the girls waiting for them.

"Annie!" her stern face melted away to be replaced by a warm smile. She met Annie halfway to the entrance of the city and hugged her tightly; "it has been so long!"

Behind them Reyna coughed to announce her presence.

"Oh gosh," steering Annabeth to the side by her hips, Thalia took a step closer and hardened her face for the leader of the Romans. "I am Thalia Grace, head of the hunters. I take it that you are Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano the Praetor of New Rome. We need to… discuss some things."

Reyna glanced at Annabeth skeptically, only to find her girlfriend smiling brightly at Thalia and her so she refocused and nodded at the head of the hunters. "Please follow me into my temporary headquarters."

Without even smiling Thalia followed Reyna who had Annabeth on her arm and Clarisse at her side. The hunters followed behind her and their eyes flitted from one building to the next as they watched Romans and Greeks work side by side to rebuild the city. None of them were sure how to handle this, the hunters were all a mix so they were used to working together but the scene before them was a radical shift in the order of things. A new shift was going to happen and the gods would soon have to form a new identity to escape their schizophrenia.

"Refrain from gawking ladies," Thalia instructed as the approached a white tent with red flags outside of it. Reyna turned toward her and smiled.

"I hate to say this, but my current station can't fit all of you so I must ask that you choose one girl to accompany you into my quarters." Reyna smiled politely but Thalia scowled and looked to her comrades.

"Sandra," Thalia called without breaking her gaze on the dark eyed Praetor. A small girl with soft brown hair and blue eyes made her way to Thalia's right side.

A shock ran through Sandra's spine as she looked to Reyna who smiled at her. The Praetor was void of all emotion but she still smiled and ushered them into the tent behind her.

Annabeth smiled and clutched her blueprints for the temple as the two hunters filed in before them into the tent. All of them moved to be around the desk Reyna had inside, Thalia and Sandra standing while Clarisse collapsed into one of the chairs and pulled out a knife to clean under her nails. Reyna took Annabeth's free hand and brought her around the back of the desk so the two of them could view the others. It was crowded inside the small space but Reyna beamed as she brought Annabeth close to her. "I want to propose a new building in New Rome, a place where you may all feel welcome and safe. Annabeth has drawn up plans as a proposal for all of you."

Her hands were shaking as she smoothed her plans over the wood surface of Reyna's desk but Annabeth was excited to present her plans. Even Clarisse was leaning forward, the knife she had out now dangling in her hand, to look at what Annabeth had to show. "This is a Temple for Diana, Artemis," she clarified and continued, "It will be located with the temples but it will provided a safe place for all of the hunters to stay if needed. Unlike the temple at Camp Half Blood this will have a private bath, prayer area, and a fountain for Iris messages. The building will be made of pure white marble and laced with moonstone to glorify the Goddess. Even the structures inside with be made of white marble and silver, moonstone will line areas so at night you won't need indoor lighting aside from next to the beds, and the temple with have a ceiling enchanted so the stars will always be in view."

Everyone in the room fell silent and stared down at the plans. Sandra was the first one to say anything; she looked up at Annabeth and blinked several times. "It's beautiful," she whispered and watched Annabeth blush bright red. The blush intensified as Reyna wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Isn't it?" She beamed and looked at Annabeth and then the others. "It is the most beautiful building she has designed so far, and the others are tough to beat. It reflects her so well. I hope that you will consider it."

Annabeth blushed even deeper as she looked at Thalia. "I really hope you take our offer to have the temple built Thal's," Thalia looked up when Annabeth used her nick name from so long ago. She remembered the large grey eyes that went from being filled with fear to hope. All the times that Annabeth had talked about wanting to be an architect and now she had redesigned Olympus and was getting ready to leave her mark elsewhere as well.

"I love the plans Annie," she smiled when she saw an ear to ear grin on Annabeth's face. She looked younger, innocent, as she gazed at Thalia. "Now about the deal to have the temple built. I understand that we get a safe place in New Rome, but what do you get Miss Ramirez- Arellano?"

Reyna smiled softly and Annabeth left her side. "We get the possible aid of hunters in times of crisis. Mostly this is for Diana, but of course we have taken the hunters into consideration."

The two leaders held eye contact and Thalia nodded. "Well how about you and I talk privately about these matters? Sandra has proved that the temple is beautiful and I am sure the girls will agree, so now it is up to me to hash out the details."

Reyna nodded and squeezed Annabeth's hand before letting her go. As she passed Thalia Annabeth looked to her friend; "Let me know how everything goes," she whispered and gripped Clarisse's upper arm to drag her out.

"That was all I went in there for?" Clarisse protested and she was drug from the tent. "What was the point?!"

Sandra smiled and bowed her head to Thalia before taking her leave and exiting the tent.

"So what is this really about?" Reyna's smile was gone and she sat down in her seat to look deep into Thalia's eyes. "I believe you have very few questions regarding the conditions on the temple, after all Annabeth would never partake in something that wasn't fair for you. So what do you actually want to talk about?"

Thalia walked over to the opposite side of Reyna's desk and placed her hands on the smooth surface just under the plans Annabeth had drawn. "At least you aren't stupid," she narrowed her eyes at the Praetor, "I heard that you have been dating Annabeth. So I decided to come by and talk to you, just a bit face to face." Reyna's eyes widened and Thalia smirked.

"She is not just a brilliant girl," Thalia started, "she is the most brilliant girl I will ever meet, and that is in an immortal life. But she is easy to convince in the ways of love," she knew her eyes had darkened but even now the thought of Luke made her hurt. "She has already once been pulled by someone who claimed to love her and I will not watch someone do that to her again. Annabeth deserves the best there is, and I had thought Percy could be that for her. Of course I respect her decisions but I need you to know that if you hurt her," she hadn't realized it but she had leaned closer into Reyna's space and was maybe and inch away from her nose now, breathing hard from her outburst and seeing the determination in Reyna's eyes that reflected her own harsh gaze back at her. "If you hurt her Reyna," she warned as she caught her breath, "I will not hesitate to kill you. I will not hesitate to beat you in front of your entire legion and shame you into a hole for the rest of your pathetic life because right now you have the power to heal or hurt my best friend. I died for her once, so don't think that I won't follow through on this promise." All that Thalia could think of was how betrayed Annabeth had been when Luke turned his back on her for the titans. Ever since then Thalia was determined to never let another one of her friends get hurt, and it didn't matter what she had to do to protect them.

But Reyna wasn't going to be intimidated that easily. She stood up calmly and walked around her desk, Thalia followed her with her eyes and was actually taken back when Reyna gripped her by the shirt and pulled her close. Reyna was taller than Thalia, so she gazed down her nose at the head of the hunters. "I do not take kindly to threats," her voice was dark and Thalia felt her heart skip a beat as they locked gazes, "because I respect what you are saying, and because you are Annabeth's friend, I won't strike you down now. But know that if you ever try to fight me you won't win. I love Annabeth, I will fight for her and protect her, but I am a daughter of Bellona and you will not be threatening me as you just did."

Both of them were breathing heavily and Thalia couldn't help but fill the air around them with electricity. Reyna didn't seem bothered by this and she smiled at Thalia before letting her go. "I am glad we have an understanding here," she laughed and moved back around her desk, ignoring the hammering of her heart as she handed Thalia a folder and their fingers brushed.

"Actually," Thalia grinned and looked over the top of the folder to smile at Reyna; "I have one more thing to ask of you. It involves Annabeth."

_Break_

How Jason and Piper had ended up in this fight he didn't know. All he knew was that it was dangerous to fight with Piper because he could literally end up doing anything. On the one hand he could end up hurting her, on the other he could end up in a tutu on one of the construction sites. Neither of those were something he wanted to experience again.

"What is this about?" he asked desperately as she stomped up the stairs away from him. "All I said was that Reyna and Annabeth seemed really happy after the hunters left! So what the hell did I do?"

Piper was fuming, her chest felt empty and she her stomach was flipping with every step she took. "I told you that you didn't do anything Jason!"

He paused and looked at her; "Then why did you start yelling at me? I mean really Piper, what the fuck?!"

"Just shut up Jason!" Piper fumed at him and spun to face him. He was standing straight as a board, she didn't even realize she had charm spoken until she saw his tightly closed mouth. "Gods Jason," she moved toward him and stroked his face, "I am so sorry I did that. There is just… So much is going on right now that I don't know…"

Jason's body shook as he was released from Piper's charm and he leaned into her touch. "It's okay Pipes," lifting his hand he ran his fingers through her hair, "Everything is alright. We can do anything as long as we work together."


	9. Numb the Pain

Hello; so I am apparently horrible these past few weeks when it comes to updating. But it has come to my attention that people actually DO read this story. So as a little bonus I will be updating twice for you lovely people, as an apology for being absent for so long. So here is the first update for you beautiful people and you should hear from me soon :)

Chapter 9: Numb the Pain

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Reyna asked as she helped Annabeth pack her bags. Thalia had asked Reyna to spare Annabeth for a week in a show of good faith for a quest that needed more than just the hunters. Apparently even their eclectic group wasn't as decisive as Annabeth was when it came to finding hidden items. At first Annabeth had insisted that she couldn't leave Reyna's side; her reasoning's jumping from the renovations to her new relationship to school. Reyna told them that they were all bogus. Malcom volunteered for watching over the construction for a week, he had school but all the plans for the next week were done and he was planning on being on site anyways. Reyna had assured her that school was the last thing she needed to worry about with her grades, next to their relationship because it was still early and they would IM each other every night.

Eventually she accepted in order to get the okay for the temple. Not to mention that she was excited to spend an entire week with Thalia after so many years of nearly no contact. She just didn't want Reyna to feel threatened.

"It is fine," Reyna smiled over at Annabeth and pulled her into a soft yet passionate kiss. "I can be without you for a week," another kiss and Reyna heard Annabeth moan, "as long as you aren't gone any longer than that. If you are I may just have to come find you," pushing Annabeth back onto the mattress Reyna crouched over her girlfriend, "after all," she purred, "I always go after what I want."

Annabeth smiled up at her girlfriend and chuckled before pulling the dark haired girl toward her face, kissing her once and then laying small kisses along her jawline and neck. Earning herself a low moan she let her eyes find Reyna's, the half lidded dark orbs made her draw away and smirk. "Good thing you always go after what you want," she joked and kissed Reyna again before rolling out from underneath the other girl. Reyna slapped her on the ass as she scurried away and ran into Reyna's bathroom to grab the girl's body wash.

"What are you doing with that?" Reyna raised an eyebrow as Annabeth shoved the only bottle of body wash Reyna had into her own bag and zip the compartment closed. "I was still planning on showering while you were gone."

All Annabeth did was offer her a seductive smile as she pulled out a bottle of body wash from her bag as well, pushing it into her cleavage and leaning up to whisper; "This way you never forget what I smell like."

Reyna's blush deepened but she looked down at Annabeth with lust in her eyes and gripped the girl by the wrist and flung her towards the bed where she pinned her down. It was easy to see hunger in Annabeth's eyes as the two of them stared into each other on the bed. Reyna smirked though and flipped off, away from her prey and chuckled. "I guess I will see you in a week then?"

A loud groan escaped Annabeth's lips but she just grabbed her bag and rolled her eyes in Reyna's direction before pecking her on the cheek and hurrying out the door to find Thalia.

_Break_

Nico wasn't sure when his shadows took him back to the room he was sharing with Percy, but he was grateful that the son of Poseidon wasn't there. Yet. He needed to pick up his things quickly before Percy found his way back and managed to convince him to stay.

After what Nico had heard him say he knew that he was getting too invested, too attached, again. He couldn't end up back in the Percy vortex again, the last time he barely managed to escape with his life. The only thing he could do now was what he did best; run. And he had done just that, leaving Percy alone in the forest with a final goodbye. This time he needed it to be true though. He needed to never go back to the only person he feared he would ever love.

Halfway through packing up his clothes he felt something grow inside of him though, a deep and dark feeling of doom as though something in his life were going very wrong. He ran to the joined bathrooms and heaved what he had in his stomach out into the toilet and collapsed on the tile. With wide eyes he realized what he was feeling and moved to stand up quickly, only to see the world around him spin and a figure make its way towards him in a flash of electric blue and then another in blonde. The blonde was screaming something at him, something that made the blue figure strike the blonde one and then the world was filled with quiet as his vision came to. Above him he saw a seething Annabeth, great she was _just_ the person that he wanted to see, and a very worried yet sternly angry Thalia.

"Why is it I only see you when everything is shit?" he asked her with all the sarcasm he had left, and that made him sound weak. Thalia didn't even smile but Annabeth looked at him as though he had done something so wrong he deserved to die for it.

In all honesty he probably had.

Thalia gripped him rather roughly by the arm and heaved him up, giving him something to keep from falling to the floor again as his surroundings tried to tilt.

"What happened to him?" Nico asked with as much urgency as he could, feeling the grip Thalia had on his arm start to tear at the scabs that had formed there. He was thankful for the long sleeves, but even more so for the fact that the pain brought him back to earth. It made him suddenly remember that there was more to life than the hollow feeling he had been infected with in his chest.

The look Thalia gave him made his head want to spin again, and if he hadn't been on an adrenaline fueled pain high he just might have fainted. He took his arm away from her before the blood could soak through enough and coat her hand, but their little group was joined by the Stolls before he got a chance to be grateful. They had their hands full of supplies, possibly for their next prank, and they stared at Nico's pale form in horror. That horror was only amplified when Thalia looked him dead in the eye; "I guess you two will have plenty of time to talk about it in the infirmary."

_Break_

Percy collapsed in utter defeat after Nico disappeared. Was it really too late for him to do anything to win back Nico? Had he lost the boy for good now? It certainly hadn't seemed like it back in their room… Then again, Nico had proven how well he could lie to everyone's face.

How many years had Nico been cutting? His body like a blank map someone had tried to use to find treasure with. Every spot they went to slashed out as being empty. Nico had treated his body worse than Percy could imagine, and all that made him do was think of all the abuse that he had taken from Gabe as a kid. It wasn't true at all, but some part of Percy felt like Nico was mocking him. Mocking everyone who had ever been hurt by hurting himself as if to say; _See this helps. _

But Nico seemed so much better. He had friends and attitude and was outgoing now. All of that made Percy really think about his time with Gabe. The physical abuse had never been the most painful thing about living with that man… It was feeling helpless that did it. Watching his mother fall apart trying to put up with him, knowing that there was nothing he could do, being told over and over again that there was nothing he could do. Gabe's words had hit Percy harder than either of his fists could. The fists had shown him that there was something else. Something besides helplessness and emptiness. So why did what Nico was doing hurt so badly? What could make him feel different about what the other boy was doing?

Light blinked off of the ground and Percy rushed over to it. He caught the sight of the blade that Nico had dropped when Percy tackled him. The edge was so sharp it hadn't even gotten a chance to be painted with Nico's blood, it had been on the ground before the wound had even started to bleed.

He gripped the small, shining piece of metal, and he wondered what Nico was doing right then. Where Nico was, how much pain he was putting himself through… The blade was going to be the only thing that he had of Nico and he examined it closely. After what happened today Nico would never come back… He was probably cutting all his ties now thinking that Percy would tell everyone what he had done. Was doing.

There was no real conscious decision as he looked over the small piece of silver in his hands. Nico was one person that Percy couldn't figure out. He didn't know why there was such a strong desire within him to pursue a boy he could never have, but he had to know…

Had to know if the blade could be like the fist.

Could it drown out all his other thoughts?

But his wrists had shrunk so much that there was little flesh to deal with. His hands shook from lack of nutrition and he didn't know until it was too late that the blade was not as good as the fists. They were better.

Around him the world started to go dark at the edges. Dark like Nico. And he wanted nothing more than to be surrounded by Nico.

Even the sound of Annabeth screaming couldn't pull him away from the shadows that crept up to consume him.

Thank you for reading, and please review to let me know how you think the story is going to far. -Megara aka LastHeroesDaughter


	10. Home

Hey guys, so for the one review I have gotten so far: I am not sure what you mean by "What's up with this story?" This is a Percico or Nicery fic and I have been working on it for a while so I would love to answer your question but I can't. I hope that the next few entries do that for you.

Now I know that I have been gone so here is your bonus chapter! I have 16 chapters written out for this so far and I'm still not sure how long it will be but as soon as I know you will know. Also I have been thinking about doing another story and introducing everyone to a character I have in my own book so let me know what you think in the reviews about doing that and fusing my book with Percy Jason so you guys can see what my characters are like.

Chapter 10: Home

Jason and Piper got to the hospital second only to Hazel, not including the people who had brought Nico and Percy in. Nico was sitting in a chair with Thalia glaring down at him like any moment a bolt of lightning would shoot from here electric blue eyes and vaporize him.

"Thalia!" Jason ran towards her and threw his arms around his sister. She barely offered up a chuckle as she hugged him back. "When you said to meet you at the hospital I thought you were hurt!"

She laughed at that and pulled away from him to look at his face. As always she was amazed at how mature he had gotten, she would never grace him with the same sight. "I am fine," and then her face darkened as she thought of one of her best friends just a sheet pull away from her, laying in bed unconscious as medics tried to save him. "Percy," she whispered and then glared back at Nico, "Percy is hurt… I don't know if…" her glare at Nico started to fade as her wall began to crumble and Nico started to panic. Since they had gotten there Thalia hadn't told him anything. But he knew that Percy was in trouble. "He was so pale," at that a sob escaped her and she crumbled to her side against Annabeth.

Annabeth gripped Thalia as tightly as she could and moved her toward a chair beside Nico. She instantly lashed out at the boy and moved back towards Annabeth, gripping her shoulders to keep from doing anything stupid.

"What is going on here?" Piper asked, confused as she looked between Thalia and Nico, but Jason had no idea what to tell her. He was still in shock about what she said about Percy… What had happened?

"We found Percy in the forest," Annabeth had turned emotionless when she spoke, a new talent that she had been cursed with from Tartarus. "Five inches long, two inches deep. It doesn't look good," gods she was starting to sound like a robot, "two pints gone when we got to him."

As he tried to grasp what Annabeth was saying, and trying to make sense of it, Jason turned to Nico. "So why is my sister mad at you?"

"Percy was sobbing his name before he passed out." Annabeth supplied to make up for Nico's silence.

"And how does that make this all his fault?" Jason crossed his arms over his broad chest and looked at the group before him like a teacher of preschoolers.

The shame of knowing, from what Annabeth had stated, that it was in fact his fault was eating away at Nico. He didn't even know he had spoken until the rest of them were looking at him. Thalia glared towards him, and he winced as he thought that a bolt of lightning wouldn't feel too great right now, but it would feel better than this hallowed out shell feeling. "Tell me why one of my best, no," Thalia corrected herself, "one of my _only_ friends was sobbing your name in the middle of the forests in a pool of his own blood."

An image started to form in Nico's mind and he just couldn't take it. He stood up abruptly and yanked back the curtain to Percy's bed, where a number of medics were running around trying to frantically help Percy by giving him more blood. "We were in a fight," he said helplessly to the group behind him before looking at one of the medics and stating in complete seriousness; "You don't know his blood type but I am O-, just give him what he needs." The medic eyed Nico cautiously, just like everyone else who looked at him, but Nico just rolled his eyes and handed him the small medical card that Will had made for him. _So I will know it's you when you wind up dead on the streets._ The words rang in his ears when he remembered all the desperate attempts to keep him at camp and the one that finally did. Nico wasn't even sure why he still had the stupid card, but he was thankful for it.

Without even a vocal confirmation the team set about hooking Nico up to get Percy some blood, and fast. Thankfully Nico didn't have many cuts on his forearms, he had tried to stick to areas he could cover, but even if they did notice any of them there was a more pressing matter at hand. One of the medics drew the curtain closed to block off the rest of the group, and Nico could hear Thalia throwing a fit but he didn't care. Percy was curled into a ball on the bed beside him, and he could see the crude stitches they had given him while the ambrosia took effect. It was a shame that the food of the gods couldn't replenish you blood supply.

He sat back and let the dull haze of minor blood loss pull him under as they took what they needed. They could have drained him dry and Nico wouldn't have cared. All he wanted was for Percy to look happy and healthy again. Why did Tartarus have to affect them the way it had? Hadn't they suffered enough?

If Bianca have stayed in the Underworld then she could have helped him get through that hell. But he couldn't blame her for wanting another chance. Everyone wanted a second chance. Even Nico had thought about taking water from the Lethe to try anew, but he knew that neither Bianca nor Hazel would approve, and he had a responsibility to look out for Hazel since he brought her back.

Time went by like water in a river, Nico hadn't paid attention to it but one of the medics grasped his shoulder and told him that Percy was going to be fine. Once again Nico had stuck around to hear that the sea prince would be okay, that he had nothing to worry about. He looked over to Percy and, sure enough, some color had returned to his skin and his breathing had evened out. It wasn't as though he looked one hundred percent, but his looked a little less like death. Nico leaned forward after they took the needle out of his arm, he could see the questioning looks that they gave him but he knew that they wouldn't ask him anything as he pulled down his shirt sleeve.

Percy's hair slipped through his fingers and he wondered just when he had let himself start touching Percy… Was his love for Percy growing even more than he had thought possible? The thought scared him, falling harder… But he loved the fall, loved this boy, and was determined to find a way to make this up to him.

"Nico," Percy whispered into his pillow, and just like Annabeth had said once before, the boy was drooling in his sleep. "I- I can't stand to see you go…"

The words made him freeze and Nico pulled his hand away from Percy's head to look at the other boy in shock.

That was when the others were let back and they prepared to move Percy from the emergency area to a recovery room where they would have more privacy. Thalia had some eyeliner running down one cheek, and she gripped Percy's hand, the one on the good arm, and sniffled as she looked at him. "You are in so much dam trouble when you wake up," she laughed but there was more relief than joy in it as she looked at her best friend. Thalia knew, had known, yet still dreaded the fact that she was going to live to see all of her friends die. She would outlive everyone in that room including her brother, and she would kill before she let any of them go before old age claimed them. When she had joined the hunters they had given her a family, a life outside of the prophecies. But the power had made some girls jealous, and no matter how convincing she was she may have gained their respect but she would never have actual friends there. Only sisters.

Annabeth dutifully checked all of Percy's vitals and his IV, never letting a single emotion pass her face as she did so. She would never cry again as far as any of them could tell…

Jason was clenching his fists at his side, anger building up in him and making the air fill with static. "Why is everyone so damaged now?" his voice was harsh but low. "I can't even look at Piper without filling with fear, Percy can't eat and now he is hurting himself, Annabeth wont even look at her best friend… Damn it all!" he snapped and punched the nearest wall before turning to Nico, "how is it you're the only one of us that has moved past it?!"

Once his mind caught up with his actions Jason bit down on his fist and tried to keep any tears from spilling as he looked at Nico. Choking back a sob he backed up and tried to say he was sorry before running down the hall.

"Guess who was able to break into the vending machines," one of the Stoll brothers peaked around the corner just after Jason fled the scene. His wiggling eyebrows stopped once he saw Percy; "so that's what happened to him…"

_Break_

Halfway through what used to be the city Jason fell to his knees and gave up running. Running was something that Nico was good at, not Jason. He punched the ground as hard as he could, pulling back to see his fist coated in blood with chips of glass lodged into the flesh. That was when Reyna came up behind him, not moving to kneel down and comfort him or trying anything that most people would do, she just stared at him from behind until she decided that he should know she was there.

"You have a life to live Roman," she stepped closer to him when he turned to face her, "best to live it while it is here." And then, before she would allow herself to do something stupid, she strode away. Leaving the torn up son of Jupiter stare at her retreating form.

Why was it that pointing out the obvious made him feel better?

He looked out at the city, what was left and what was being built, and for the first time in weeks he realized that he was home. The people needed him. And he needed to fix this place so it would be there for him, for him to lead this city.

_Break_

Connor glared at Travis from where he was sitting. "You just had to open your mouth first and eyes second, didn't you?" he growled under his breath just to get a death glare from Clarisse.

After Travis's insensitivity towards Percy, he and Conner had both been put in timeout by Piper. Clarisse had been wrangled into babysitting them and was less than pleased with the situation, having only managed to calm down by confiscating their stolen goodies. She was munching through a bag of chocolate chip cookies when she decided to lecture them; "If you would take in your surroundings once in a while some of the things you do could be seen as nice," with a quick wipe of her mouth she continued, "I mean I know that Thalia would be having a hay day chowing down on these sweets right now. She is an emotional eater, but you had to go and look like idiots so I had to come watch you."

"You could let us give the food to them still, but you ate most of it." Travis pointed out.

"And you ate all the good chocolaty stuff first," Conner admitted, unable to help himself.

Clarisse glared at both of them; "Yea well it's the least the little charm speaker can give me after calling me down here," she finished off the bag of chips and tossed the crumpled up bag into the trash can, bouncing it on the side.

"We really didn't mean to be rude," Travis grumbled as he looked at the floor. Even for them the time didn't feel happy or like there were jokes to be played.

It felt, questioning. Why would Percy, of all people, have tried to kill himself? Sure it probably hadn't been on purpose. The doctor said that the blade was wicked sharp and Percy probably wasn't expecting how easy it would go through his flesh… But why had he been putting it to his arm in the first place?

The door to the room they had moved Percy into opened. All three of them looked just to see Hazel and Frank rushing through it before it closed, they had been so focused that the Stolls doubted they were even noticed. A while later they could hear Hazel crying.

When Leo showed up they were definitely noticed. The ADHD riddled boy was pacing outside the room for so long that Conner thought he was going to wear a path in the tile, but no one was about to say anything about it.

Leo saw the Stolls sitting outside the room when he had come up. He was fighting internally about whether or not to go into the small room. It didn't seem appealing, a cramped space with someone laying on a bed, but he knew that it was something friends and family did. He thought about Calypso, who had seemed flustered at the idea of seeing Percy again but had promised to be there as soon as she could to look him over. Will may be a good healer, but Calypso had a few years on him. Plus, being immortal had some perks, like magical perks. Leo knew that she would be able to do more for Percy than he ever could.

"Wanna sit out here?" Travis called out to him. They hadn't spoken much since Leo got back, but they had become okay friends before the war so Leo nodded and sat by Conner. The only real physical difference between the two was that Conner had a small scar on his eyebrow that made the hairs split ever so slightly. But it was enough for Leo to notice. He also noticed that Conner seemed to be the more levelheaded of the two, but that didn't count for much.

"Have you seen Percy?" Leo asked shyly and Travis nodded his head. "Was he doing… Okay?"

There was an odd silence but finally Travis just shook his head. "He looked pretty broken…"

It felt like more needed to be said but no one wanted to say anything. When Conner went to continue the conversation Clarisse knew that it would only hurt more. "You two are in timeout," she looked at them both sternly, "no more talking or time starts over."

All of them shared weak smiles until Leo spotted Calypso running down the hall with her hair in a windswept mess and dirt covering her hands. Leo loved that whenever she was in a mood she would switch from helping him with his machines to plunging her hands into the dirt. He needed her to connect him to the organic, and he knew that she would never let a little mess stand in her way from helping anything. She still had smudges of soot on her cheek from cleaning up the areas where the city had decided to start gardening and farming, but he knew she didn't care. The dark smudge set off her worried hazel eyes and he quickly moved toward her without thinking about it.

"Is he in there?" she asked frantically, her bare feet cold on the hard tiles beneath. "Why aren't you with him?"

But there was no need to answer that, she knew him so she just gave him a soft smile before kissing his cheek. Without another word she opened the door to see her old love.

_Break_

Hazel had thought for sure that it was going to be Nico who was lying in the hospital bed, and it hurt her to think she was slightly relieved and happy when she saw him sitting up in his own chair. Then she saw Percy and instantly a tear fell from her cheek; both for her friend and for her brother. She knew that it must be painful for Nico to see Percy like that, it wasn't hard to see that he still loved Percy, but for some reason she couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. It had been her to tell Percy to go after Nico this time, and she had threatened him because she was sure that Nico was going to get hurt.

Apparently the opposite had been true.

"Now maybe you know how he has felt all these years," she wanted to comfort her brother but the words were out before she could stop them. For so long it had been her taking Nico's side, comforting Nico, fearing for Nico, and now she had sent someone to be hurt by Nico. Her eyes were filled to the brim with tears and the tension in the room rose as everyone looked at Nico, his eyes a broken pit of black staring into her pained golden orbs.

Frank was the one to put a hand on her shoulder and give her the look that told her she had gone too far. Everyone may have been thinking what she said, but just looking at Nico was enough to tell anyone that it was crossing a line. Nico was just as broken as Percy, and he had already been screamed at by Jason so he was even more on edge. Hazel felt a sob rip through her throat and watched Nico get up from his chair.

She expected him to be angry, to glare at her or give her his disappointed look that was far worse, then she knew he would run away. Knowing that it was coming she shut her eyes. As much as disappointing him hurt her it was nothing compared to him slipping into the shadows to leave. After he had been captured by the giants in the war she had sworn to herself that she would never watch him travel away from her again. If she did there would be nothing to stop her from reaching out and grabbing his arm so he would have to take her with him…

But Nico didn't leave. Instead he wrapped his arms around Hazel. He held her tightly and let her cry into his shoulder as Bianca had done for him so many times. The dampness of her tears made him feel something in a way that he knew he wanted to cut away the memory with a blade. That thought made him clench his teeth and glance over at Percy, the damn idiot was still recovering and wouldn't wake up for a few hours, but Nico wanted to slap him and ask what he thought he was doing. Hazel clutched to his shirt and cried more, Frank rubbing her back to try and calm her.

"You can't make me watch you go," Hazel forced the words out, knowing that if he left after doing something like this that she would never fully heal from the wound he would open.

Stilling for a moment Nico wondered if he really would be hurting people if he left now… There was no doubting that he had made friends here, his sister even had put up with it all before, but what did having friends mean? Did he finally have a home now? He had always thought that a home was a place where he would be accepted by everyone, and he knew that New Rome didn't accept him fully, but maybe it was being loved but a handful that really made him want to stay…

The door opened at that moment. Not a dramatic loud opening, but it opened and everyone was drawn to see who had shown up next. A girl with cinnamon hair and dirt under her nails, black bottom feet from running out in the soot barefoot and wearing an old sundress stood in the doorway. She caught sight of Percy on the bed and made a beeline for him.

Like Annabeth she checked his vital, but there was no connection cut look in her eyes as she did so, the hazel color was filled with something akin to heartache and love as they flitted back to his face with everything she did. Finally she looked at everyone in the room, "he will be waking up soon. I think we should leave him with who he wants to see."

I hope you guys enjoyed this entry! Let me know what you thing in a review :) Also keep an eye out, I am going to be writing a one chapter story on what happened between Piper and Jason so you guys can tell me if they should stay together or is too much has happened. That should be up within the week so not super long. I am out on break.

Let me know what you thought by leaving a review and I will respond in the next entry!

Love you guys! -Megara aka TheLastHeroesDaughter


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